


Earth's Weaknesses: Part Six

by WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter



Series: Earth's Weaknesses: The 100 [6]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alyssa still has a shit ton of knives, Badass, Bisexual Female Character, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, Murphy x Alyssa is my brotp, Murphyssa BROTP, Original Character-centric, POV Original Female Character, Protective John Murphy (The 100) - Character, Self-Harm, The 100 (TV) Season 6, but that's nothing new, damn lightbournes better start running, shit gets real when Alyssa finds out Clarke is dead, still like very slow burn between Bellamy x OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24428311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter/pseuds/WaitingForMyHogwartsLetter
Summary: Part 6 of 7Set during Season 6 of The 100. After a 125 year long nap, they arrive on Planet Alpha, aka Sanctum, a place ruled over by 'immortal gods' called the Primes.What could go wrong?
Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Alyssa Jones & John Murphy, Alyssa Jones & Madi, Bellamy Blake/Alyssa Jones, Bellamy Blake/Echo, Bellamy Blake/Original Female Character(s), Clarke Griffin & Madi, Emori/John Murphy (The 100), Eric Jackson/Nathan Miller, Original Female Character & Madi, Raven Reyes/Miles Ezekiel Shaw
Series: Earth's Weaknesses: The 100 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722190
Kudos: 13





	1. Sanctum

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just putting the last couple of paragraphs here from the last part. 
> 
> My hand flew up to my mouth as I covered it in shock. The suns, the planet, the clouds… it was beautiful. Two suns. I looked over at Shaw and mouthed, “Two suns, no sunscreen needed.” Something he’d said the first day he met me. He let out a breathless laugh in reply, looking at the planet in disbelief. 
> 
> “I set the coordinates a week ago,” Monty explained. “If I’m right, you should get there in… seventy-five years. I’m tempted to put myself in cryo to see it, but without Harper… anyway. It’s in the Goldilocks zone of a binary star system. But that’s all I know. Eligius three never radioed back, or if they did, it was after apocalypse one, so no one heard it. Can you see it? Is it beautiful? It is in my dreams. I hope we do better there. I hope Jasper was wrong, and we aren’t the problem. I hope your lives there will be as happy as mine has been. Be the good guys. May we meet again.”

“May we meet again,” I whispered, leaning into Clarke as tears rolled down my cheeks. 

“I know this is a lot to process…” Bellamy sighed. “Take an hour and meet in the mess. We need to game this out.”

Clarke let me go and helped Bellamy take charge. “Guys, we survived. Monty made sure of it.”

“Now we get our humanity back,” Abby said quietly. 

“Some of us never lost it,” Raven replied bitterly, pushing past Abby and out of the bridge. Shaw barely hesitated before running after her. 

I waited until everyone had dispersed before sitting down and leaning against the glass of the window, taking in every detail of the planet whilst reliving every memory of Monty. 

_I raised my gun as it creaked, swinging open to reveal… Bellamy, Jasper and Monty. Octavia rushed to him, pulling him into a hug and I did the same with Jasper and Monty. “Oh, thank god,” I whispered, clutching them tightly._

_“We need to be able to breathe to be able to fight, remember?” Monty laughed, causing me to release them sheepishly._

… 

_“Which one’s your dad? I don’t remember him from the Ark.”_

_“Oh, he pretty much kept to himself, mostly dealt with the guy next door. He’s that asshole over there,” I pointed._

_“Really? He seemed—” Monty looked at my face before continuing— “like a total dick. The worst. A stain on mankind, really.”_

_I smiled at his attempt to make me feel better and slung an arm around him._

…

_I pulled Monty into a reluctant hug, “Be careful. Don’t die.”_

_“I’m pretty sure I should be saying that to you,” he mumbled, squeezing me back eventually._

… 

_“Where are we going to find a dozen small bunkers on such short notice? Bunkers R Us? We Buy Any Bunker.com?” Monty suggested, making a vague gesture with his hand that told me he was a tad too tired for this shit. Harper put her hand over his reassuringly and I remembered in the two days we’d been back, I hadn’t breached that subject with him yet._

_I shot him a glance, mouthing “You two?”_

_He replied, “Yeah.”_

_Nodding in approval, I mouthed back, “Nice.”_

…

_After a while, Monty said quietly. “So, I see you’ve made some friends…”_

_I laughed, keeping my voice low. “Has anyone ever told you you’re terrible at easing tension?_

_“No, they haven’t.”_

_“Well then, Monty. Let me be the first to tell you that you’re terrible at easing—”_

…

_My head was pounding and the bright lights above me made me want to stab someone. Luckily, I was too hungover to be able to bother. “Monty, you know medicine, right? Please tell me you have some sort of miracle hangover cure?”_

_He sighed, “I do. It’s called a cold shower.”_

_I frowned at him, “But Alpha Station no longer has running water.”_

_“I know,” he deadpanned._

_Lyra sat upright with a start, her hair almost completely in front of her face as she mumbled, “Give me ten minutes to get my shit together. Ten minutes. Tops.” She brushed the hair out of her face in time to puke next to the bed, which Harper had somehow managed to get herself on before passing out. Monty made his way over to his girlfriend and eased her to her feet,_

_“Shit, Monty, sorry for completely trashing your room,” I apologised, gently shaking Bellamy to wake him up. He mumbled something along the lines of “five more minutes” before burying his head in my shoulder further to block out the light and causing me to laugh._

_Monty raised an eyebrow, “This isn’t my room. Or Harper’s. It’s Miller’s. It took me twenty minutes to find you guys.”_

_“He’s going to be so pissed when he gets back,” Harper giggled._

Do better. We had to do better this time. We had to be the good guys. For Monty. I pulled myself to my feet, drying my eyes and thinking properly. I needed to go and meet the other in the mess so that we could form a game plan. That was what was important. 

~

I walked into the mess with one earbud in, only half-listening to it but grateful for the background noise. Jordan was waiting at a table near the front and he handed me a bowl. “My dad preserved this for when we woke up.”

“Ah, Monty Green’s famous algae,” I smiled. “Thanks.”

“I’m told it doesn’t taste very good, but since it’s all I’ve ever eaten…” he laughed. 

I grinned, “At some point on the ground, get Murphy to cook for you. I’ve been told he’s very good at it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jordan nodded with a smile, looking up as Clarke came in. 

I made my way over to the table that everyone was sitting on and slid into the seat next to Bellamy. “Hey,” I gave them a brief wave. “What’s on the agenda?”

“We’re waiting for Clarke, Raven and Shaw before making any big decisions,” Echo explained. “How do you like the algae?”

I scooped a bit of algae up and put it in my mouth, swallowing and wincing slightly. “It’s… edible.” 

Murphy laughed, “Try eating that every day for six years and a week.”

“I’d rather not,” I replied with a grin. “How your arm holding up?”

“It’s attached,” he shrugged, wincing. “That’s about it. Yours?”

“My arm is also attached,” I informed him, “And it’s going to have a cooler scar than yours.” 

He groaned, “That’s not fair. I was being heroic, I should have the cooler scar.” 

I laughed, “I think you’ve forgotten the scar that I have that tops all of your lousy injuries.” I turned around and pulled my top aside with my good arm to reveal the panther scratch scars. “Unbeatable, see? Suck it.”

Murphy whistled, “How could I forget about that?”

Echo nodded in approval, “Impressive.”

“How the hell?” Emori raised an eyebrow. 

“Panther attack,” I grinned. “Taught me a lot of valuable lessons though.”

Bellamy laughed, “Like what?” 

I tapped his chin lightly with the knife I had kept hidden in my sling. “Sneak attack concealed sling knife. Where’s your survival instinct? You’re slacking, Blake,” I teased playfully, securing the knife once again. 

Clarke walked over and Bellamy looked up, “Hey, you seen Raven or Shaw?”

“You know,” Emori prompted, “The people you handed over to our enemy to be tortured.”

Murphy tapped his fingers on the table, “Now, for Clarke, we call that a Tuesday.”

“Easy, she did the right thing in the end,” Echo sent her an apologetic look.

I diffused the situation, “No, _kidnapping_ is a casual Tuesday. The occasional betrayal happens on Wednesday’s but it’s usually resolved by Fridays. Saturdays are for rescue missions and Sundays are for planning. That’s how it works.” 

Emori rolled her eyes, “What about Mondays?”

I pulled a face, “Nothing gets done on Mondays. It’s like the universal day for unproductivity.”

“And Thursdays?” Murphy raised an eyebrow. 

“Training,” I sent them a confused look, “Obviously.”

“No, I haven’t seen them,” Clarke finished, leaving to sit next to her mother. 

Jordan raced back in, carrying a tray with a few bottles on it. “Will first-culture algae do? My dad wanted me to give this to you.” He came to a stop next to Clarke and Abby’s table. 

Clarke recognised it, “The stuff Bellamy used on Octavia?”

“Exactly,” Jordan nodded. “The first generation induces coma, he was hoping you could use it to save Kane.”

I paused, catching the torn look on Bellamy’s face. _How did I miss him poisoning his sister? When the hell did that happen?_

Abby took the bottle and stood up, “Thank you. Take Jackson to the ground. I’ll wake up Niylah to assist me.” 

Clarke nodded to her mother as Raven and Shaw came in hand-in-hand. Raven smiled, “What did we miss?”

“Nothing,” Bellamy told her. “It’s about time. Take a seat.” He took charge of the room. “Okay everyone, listen up. Here’s what we know. Eligius III was a colonising mission. According to the file, the mothership went to five planets that met necessary conditions for life, dropping mission teams on each one. Monty picked planet Alpha for us because it’s the closest and probably the most like earth.”

“Wait, ‘probably’?” Murphy raised an eyebrow. 

Shaw turned around to explain, “We have to assume they couldn’t know for sure until they got here. We can scan the atmosphere from the bridge.” 

“Actually… we can’t,” Jordan cut in. “None of the equipment we used to monitor earth is working. I’m guessing it’s interference from the ionosphere.”

“Bottom line is, we won’t know if it’s survivable until we get down there,” Bellamy finished.

Clarke sighed, “Sounds familiar.”

“What about radio signals?” Raven suggested. “Anything from the ground that says the mission team survived?” 

“No radio signals,” Bellamy confirmed.

“Likely also the ionosphere,” Jordan explained. “There is an ultra-high-frequency ping on radar, faint but—”

“A rescue beacon,” Shaw realised. “We used them on Eligius IV to—”

Emori cut him off, “Great. If there’s a beacon, that means someone’s down there, right?”

“Not necessarily.” He replied, “They’re solar, so—” 

“They can last forever,” Raven finished for him. “How long ago did Eligius III get here?”

Jordan shrugged, “Hard to tell since they never radioed back, but best estimate— two hundred years, give or take.”

“That’s a long time to wait for a rescue,” Murphy said flatly. 

Echo shrugged, “I trust Monty.”

“Same. We got this,” I decided. 

“Great, then it’s settled,” Bellamy confirmed. “We land at a distance, give us time to acclimate. We’ll wait for them to come to us.”

Clarke paused, “Let’s talk about guns. If we have them, we’ll use them.” 

“We’re taking guns.” He nodded, “We’re also taking non-lethals. Now, Eligius IV had gas grenades and shock batons to control the criminals. We won’t shoot first this time.”

Raven scoffed, “In that case, Clarke should stay here.” 

I tried to diffuse the tension again, it felt weird. I’m not cut out to peacekeep, I’m carrying like at least two dozen different knives right now. “Let’s be real here, Raven. I’m the one most likely to shoot first, I’m the original murderer in this joint, remember?”

“Raven, you’re the one that’s staying here,” Bellamy said firmly, but not before he could shoot me a look. 

I shrugged, mouthing, “I was trying to help?” 

He raised an eyebrow at me, mouthing back, “Not helping.”

“What?” Raven laughed in disbelief, “Like hell I am.” 

“Look, we can’t take both our pilots. And since we’ll be flying blind until we’re below the ionosphere it has to be Shaw,” he explained. “That’s not all. Jordan, you’re staying too.”

Jordan’s face took on a look of hurt, “Me? Why?”

“I know it’s hard,” Clarke told him sympathetically, “But your parents asked us to keep you safe. We have no idea what’s waiting for us down there.”

“Which is why we should take our best fighters,” Echo prompted.

Bellamy shook his head, “My sister is the last person I trust not to shoot first, so she stays on ice with everyone else until we know what we’re dealing with.”

“And if it’s too late by then?” 

“Fine, I’ll wake up Miller,” he compromised. “Good, say your goodbyes, head to the transport ship.”

Murphy stood up, “Well, I call shotgun.”

I pulled Raven in for a hug before I could leave. “Look, both Clarke and I are going so if anything happens… can you look after Madi?”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” she assured me. “But if it does, she’s in good hands. Not that I know how to take care of children… how hard can it be?”

I laughed, “I’m sure there’s something on it in that magnificent brain of yours.”

She paused, “Take care of Shaw for me?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got his back,” I reassured her before setting off for the transport ship. “Ay Miller, let’s do this shit,” I clapped him on the back. 

We strapped in and it wasn’t long after we left that we were beneath the ionosphere and looking at the planet in all of its glory. Shaw grinned back at us from the pilot’s seat, “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you planet Alpha.”

I whistled, “This is so awesome.”

Once we had landed, Clarke pulled to the lever to open the transport ship’s door. Jackson stood behind me muttering, “Please be breathable. Please be breathable. Please be breathable.” He looked up and grinned, “Breathable air, check.” 

Emori checked something, “Radiation levels good too. Eligius III didn’t need to send nightbloods after all.”

“How about that beacon, Shaw?” Bellamy asked, marvelling at the sight of the planet. 

“Eight clicks due east. I think it’s on high ground. There’s a water source about halfway,” he informed us. 

Clarke looked at Bellamy, “You should go first this time.”

“No. We go together, all of us,” he smiled back. 

Miller nudged me, “Anyone got anything better than ‘we’re back, bitches’?”

Murphy smiled, “Monty would know what to say. He should be here.”

“He is,” Bellamy smiled.

“Watch your backs. Locking it up,” Miller warned as the door began to close behind us. 

Clarke looked around, “He already said it. ‘Do better there’, so let’s do better.” 

“That’s easy to say, but talk is cheap,” Shaw shot us a look before beginning the hike. 

I jogged after him, walking alongside Murphy and Emori. “Thank you, Monty.”

~

We emerged from the treeline out onto a long thin beach that stretched out along the trees. Past the beach was water, clear and shining and unpolluted. Bellamy grinned, “Looks like we found the water source. Whoa, now that’s a view.”

I looked around a whistled, “Clarke I will pay you to draw this so I can hang it above my bed.”

“Don’t worry, I already want to,” she smiled. 

“We camp here,” Bellamy decided. 

Clarke looked up, “Looks like the suns are eclipsing.” 

Murphy winced as he pulled off his sling, following it with his bag and his gun as he walked towards the water. Soon his shirt was on the ground and he was wading in.

“Murphy, we haven’t tested it!” Jackson called to him. 

“Yeah,” he replied, making no effort to stop. 

“Your wounds haven’t healed yet!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

He dived in and disappeared under the water. Emori walked to the water’s edge, hesitant when he didn’t reappear. “John?”

“Something’s wrong,” Clarke paused. 

I laughed, “Guys, it’s Murphy. He’s probably messing with us.”

I was right. Two seconds later he reappeared, shaking his hair like a wet dog. “Whoo! Come on in, the water’s fine.” 

Emori grinned, “Who knew cockroaches could swim?” 

Murphy waded back towards the shore with a playful look on his face. “What, you want me to teach you?” He reached for her hand. 

“No. John. No, I’m serious. John. Let me go! John!” She protested as he led her into the water.

“You’re coming with me,” he whispered as I dunked them both underwater. 

“You’re in big trouble!” she yelled, splashing him profusely. 

Once the sun had gone down and Murphy and Emori had dried off, Jackson caught a scorpion nearby. “Check it out,” he whispered excitedly, “Alien life.”

I laughed as Miller replied, “At least something’s alive down here. We’re the aliens, by the way.”

Jackson laughed, shaking his head before the reality of it actually hit him. “Oh my god, we’re aliens,” he said in disbelief. 

I made my way over to the water as their conversation got more serious and stood on the edge, wrapping my jacket around me. It was completely quiet other than the conversations of the others but closer to the water they were fainter, leaving me with no background noise whatsoever.

Wait, no background noise whatsoever isn’t normal… 

“You guys got to see this,” Jackson called and I jogged over back to the rest of the group. He held up his new pet scorpion which was tapping against the wall of the glass container quickly and angrily. “Five minutes ago, this thing ate a leaf out of my hand. Now it wants to eat me. Not only that, now it’s entire physiology has changed from—” 

He was cut off by the sound of Murphy killing a mosquito as it tried to bite his neck. Somehow the action of this angered the frantic scorpion even more and it thrashed against the glass harder. Murphy raised an eyebrow, “Look at that, your pet’s pissed I killed its brother.”

“What the hell is that?” Emori paused, and during the silence, a buzzing sound got louder. We looked up as all of the bugs began to swarm together, blocking the path back to the ship. 

“Swarm,” Clarke realised. 

Echo cursed, “It’s coming from the direction of the ship, we’ll never make it back.”

“Everyone cover up!” Bellamy shouted, “We’re heading to the beacon now.”

“What if there’s nothing there?” Emori asked, frantically grabbing her stuff. 

Murphy, as optimistic as ever, replied, “Then we’re bug food.”

“Alright, everyone move. Move now!” Bellamy ordered.

We made a run for it as the bugs began to attack, covering our faces as the bugs came from all directions. I heard a scream and turned around. Emori was gone. 

“Emori!” Murphy shouted, looking around for her. “Emori!”

“Help!” she screamed, “Where are you?”

Miller ran over, “Take the flare out of my bag. Hurry up.” Murphy activated the flare and it scared the bugs off. “Light them all!”

I pulled out my own flare and struck it, using the light to find Emori and keep the bugs out. We got to what seemed to be a border and I ran at the front, tearing through it. Shaw was close behind me, “Here! It’s here!” 

He began to scream as something came at him, almost like it was electrocuting him. I watched in horror on the other side, unable to move. 

“It’s killing him. Get him out!” Echo shouted, bringing me to my senses. 

“It’s radiation! It won’t affect me or Lyss, move!” she shouted to me and I grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the way as she tore through the shield and helped me. “Hang on Shaw, we got you!”

Clarke leant over him as the others ran out of flares. “The tower,” Shaw whispered. “Eligius tech, the failsafe code— 47815.” 

I got up before she did, rushing to the tower and turning it off so that she could help him. They ran in before I re-armed it and Jackson dropped to his knees next to Shaw. I ran back to the group, kneeling down next to him and shaking my head. _No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening. I told Raven I’d protect him._ “What do we do?” I panicked. “There has to be something we can do. The Mount Weather thing? Bone marrow?” 

“Tell Raven—” Shaw spluttered, shaking— “That she deserves happiness. She doesn’t think she does, but… she does.” His gasping stopped as he died along with the last flare. I ran a hand through my hair, taking off the hat that I’d pulled on before the bug attack and throwing it to the ground. 

_My fault._

~

By the time we got to the actual compound that the radiation fence had been protecting, it was light outside. “The beacon should be right up ahead,” Bellamy announced. 

“What are we gonna tell Raven?” Clarke asked. 

I put my earbuds in, trying to block out my thoughts. _My fault. My fault. Should’ve been quicker. My fault. Shouldn’t have gone first— I made it look safe and it wasn’t. My fault. My fault. My fault._

“That he died a hero,” Bellamy told her. 

Murphy sighed, “Look. I do hate to make this about us, but—”

“Then don’t,” Clarke snapped. “Shaw just saved your life, Murphy.” 

“I’m aware,” he said calmly. “I’m also aware that we just lost our pilot. Madi’s still up there, you’re not worried you’re never gonna see her again.” 

I stepped between them before Clarke had a chance to lunge at him. “Easy, easy. Does this sound like ‘doing better’ to you? Walk it off.” 

Miller stood next to me, turning to Clarke, “Ignore him.” 

“Your red queen’s up there too, Miller. Who you gonna follow now?” Murphy goaded and I had to step between Miller and him this time, pushing them apart and wincing from the effort. 

“Murphy, stop pissing everyone off,” I smacked him lightly upside the back of his head. “And you two, don’t let him get to you.” 

Bellamy agreed, “As therapeutic as it is to beat up on Murphy, Emori can fly.” 

“Sure. Yeah,” Emori’s enthusiasm was fake and unconvincing. “I’ve had one successful landing in a ship I trained in for six years. No problem.” We continued walking, and Emori was the first to notice the beginnings of a village. “Guys, stairs!"

“Easy,” Bellamy warned. “We approach slow, no hostile movements.”

I grabbed Murphy’s arm and pulled him along with me, “We’re falling behind, come on.”

He paused, “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” I lied. _My fault._ The words still circled my head and since I had to take my earbuds out to diffuse the argument, there was nothing to stop them. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I know you,” Murphy replied firmly. “And— they have a castle,” he whistled. 

I looked up, finally seeing the compound. “Fuck. That’s an actual castle.”

We continued on into the village part, but it appeared to be deserted. Strange, creepy, but at least there was no one to make a bad first impression on. Murphy knocked on one of the doors. When there was no answer, he knocked again. And again. And again. On each of the doors in the small neighbourhood. I rolled my eyes, tapping him on the shoulder. “Hey genius, I don’t think anybody’s home.” 

“Hello,” he called, banging on a different door. “Invaders from earth, can we come in?” 

I laughed, “Dammit, Murphy.” 

“John, keep it down,” Emori hissed. 

“I don’t know why we’re knocking,” he shrugged. “Gone door to door and no one’s here.”

“We don’t know that yet,” Echo shrugged. 

“These are people’s homes, we’re not breaking in like thieves,” Bellamy said decidedly. 

Murphy moved forwards and kicked a door open, “Oh, look at that. This one’s unlocked.”

“Smooth,” I laughed. “Real smooth.” I followed him inside. 

There were shackles just inside the door and Murphy picked them up, turning them over in his hands, “Hmm. Kinky.”

I snorted, “Of course you would say that.”

He picked something up from the side and I realised it was a speaker that you’d plug an MP3 into. “Hey, you want a music player?” Murphy held it out to me. 

I rolled my eyes, putting it back down. “Behave, Murphy.”

“Alright, alright,” he smiled, picking it back up and pocketing it. “Don’t go snitching on me.” 

Emori worked on the door to the castle while he fiddled with the speaker to get it to work. I sighed, handing him the MP3 and plugging it in to see if we could get it fired up. Emori rubbed her head like she was shaking off a dizzy spell and he noticed. 

“Hey, you okay?” Murphy called to her. 

“What?” she turned around before registering what he’d said, “Yeah. Fine. I’m just tired.” 

“Want me to give it a shot?” he offered. 

She laughed, “Stay in your lane, John.”

“Okay,” he smiled, scrolling through the song list. “You know I actually know a lot of these songs from when Jaha locked me in the lighthouse bunker.” 

I pointed to _Cinema_ by Benny Benassi. “That’s one of my favourites.” 

He continued scrolling, “Wait, you’re both going to love this.” 

I covered my eyes, “It better not be something super cringey.”

Murphy rolled his eyes, standing up and nodding as the song began to play. _This is the Sea_ by The Waterboys. “Hey, come on, forget the door,” he pleaded with Emori. 

“John, I’m concentrating,” she sighed. 

“Forget the door and dance with me. Dance,” he spun her around. She ignored him, returning to the door but Murphy was unrelenting as usual and he began to sing instead, leaning against the door she was trying to open. _“These things you keep, you better throw them all away. You wanna turn your back, on your soulless days. Once you were tethered…”_

He got to the balcony and spread his arms out wide as he sang, making me laugh and shake my head in disbelief. _“And now you are free,”_ he sang loudly. _“That was the river.”_

I joined in since no one else was going to, leaning against the railing next to him, _“This is the sea.”_

Murphy grinned, spinning me around to make Emori roll her eyes at us instead of focusing on what she was working on.

_And now, if you’re feeling weary._

_If you’ve been alone too long_

_Maybe you’ve been suffering from_

_A few too many_

_Plans that have gone wrong_

_And you’re trying to remember_

_How fine your life used to be_

Somehow we’d ended up on different sides of the cascading staircase, singing dramatically as we made our way down. It made me laugh, Clarke had to put up with me and my singing for six years, this might push her over the edge in the cringiness scale.

_Running around banging your drum_

_Like it’s 1973_

_Well, that was the river_

_This is the sea_

_Now you say you’ve got trouble_

_You say you’ve got pain_

_You say you’ve got nothing left to believe in_

Murphy and I reunited at the bottom of the two staircases, grinning madly, laughing, and with an arm around each other as we continued to murder the song. Although my singing was slightly better than I remembered, and Murphy had a surprisingly good voice,

_Nothing to hold on to_

_Nothing to trust_

_Nothing but chains_

_You’ve been scouring your conscience_

_Raking through your memories_

_Scouring your conscience_

_Raking through your memories_

_But that was the river_

_This is the sea, yeah_

We continued on, and I have to say it’s quite a long song. We were probably at about three minutes in, jumping up and down and laughing our heads off at the fact that for once we were just… free. Murphy was mid air guitar solo when he looked up and began to curse, “No. No!” 

Someone was stealing our ship.

I was too busy watching it happen to notice Emori running at us out of the corner of my eye. She pushed me out the way and held out her knife, driving it straight into Murphy and tackling him. “I won’t let you kill me!” she screamed and I had to run and tackle her away from him as he gasped for breath, his sleeve sliced open and a stab wound in his shoulder. Miller and Echo pulled her off of me and I ran to Murphy to help Jackson stem the bleeding. 

_But that was the river_

_This is the sea_

  
  



	2. Red Sun Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ****** SELF HARM TRIGGER WARNING ******  
> DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF IT HAS THE POSSIBILITY TRIGGER YOU IN ANY WAY.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, I'm saying it again just in case. TW SELF HARM IN THIS CHAPTER. There's a summary in the end notes anyway.

I glanced at the eclipse out the window before drawing the curtains and turning back to the bed where Jackson was tending to Murphy’s wounds. He sighed, “I am getting used to patching you up, Murphy.”

Bellamy finished with an unconscious Emori on the other side of the room, securing her wrist into one of the shackles on the wall. “I guess now we know what the restraints were for.” 

“How long will she be out?” Echo glanced down at her. 

Jackson continued to patch up Murphy, not looking up as he replied, “The sedative in the tranq-sticks should last up to three hours.” 

“Hey, what about the mothership?” Miller paused. “They’re gonna think it’s us, how do we warn them?” 

“We don’t,” Bellamy sighed. “Radios don’t work down here. For now, we worry about ourselves. Murphy, are you okay?”

Jackson smiled sympathetically, “The wounds are superficial. You’re lucky.”

“I’m lucky?” Murphy scoffed, “Sorry is that your professional diagnosis? Because if so, you suck at being a doctor.”

“Hey,” I put a hand on his arm gently. “Ease up.”

He shrugged me off, “What? I’m dying to know what turned my girlfriend into the monster that just attacked me.” 

Clarke held up the book, “It’s all right here. ‘For two days, heaven is hell, and friends become foes.’ Whatever’s in the air, it affects people too.”

Miller frowned, “Then why are the rest of us okay?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “But according to this, it comes from the plants.”

“It’s a _children’s_ book,” Murphy groaned. 

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, but it’s coming true. When we were running from the bugs, Emori went down in the brush. It’s probably why she lost it first.” 

Echo raised her eyebrows, “First?”

“Joy of joys, I guess we're locking ourselves up then so we don’t tear each other to pieces?” I laughed, “Never a dull moment with us lot, is there?”

“There’s more restraints in the school, I’m guessing they’re everywhere,” Bellamy announced. “We need to separate.”

“I’ll stay with Emori,” Echo decided.

I waltzed into the school to find Clarke and Murphy arguing. They seemed surprised to see me but I rolled my eyes and clipped myself into one of the four sets of shackles in the room. “What? You two in the same room together is a recipe for disaster even with Bellamy coming. You’re at each other’s throats even without the bloody eclipse.” 

Clarke nodded, “Fair enough.”

Bellamy walked in, “Alright. Echo’s with Emori and Jackson and Miller are upstairs. Nobody’s armed, now it’s our turn.” He held his hand out in front of Murphy, “Gun.” 

I took the pistol out of the back of my waistband and slid it along the floor out of reach as Murphy handed Bellamy his rifle and let himself be locked in one of the shackles. He rolled his eyes, “Why do _you_ get to have everyone’s keys?”

“Clarke will have mine,” Bellamy explained as he locked himself in, tossing his key to Clarke. “Satisfied?”

“Here,” I laughed, “Take mine.” I tossed my key over to Murphy and he caught it easily, placing it on the table next to him. 

Clarke tilted her head back and sighed. 

Murphy groaned, “God I hate being tied up. Yet whenever I’m with you…” he glared at Clarke. “We always end up back here, don’t we? I mean first you hanged me—”

“Well, in fairness,” Bellamy cut in, “I did that.”

“Only after she forced your hand,” he said slowly. “And who could forget Lexa? Yeah, I was tied up that night too, just a disposable pawn in your game.” 

I picked up a small pencil pot from the table next to me and emptied it out, the sound of pencils hitting the floor catching everyone’s attention before I threw it at Murphy’s head. Not enough to injure, just enough to shut him up. “Stop being an ass. If we’re stuck here together until this damned eclipse is over, at least don’t be an insufferable dick.”

“You wound me,” he whispered in mock hurt, rubbing the spot where the pencil pot had made contact with his forehead. 

Clarke looked at him, shaking her head, “That’s not fair.”

“Neither was tying up me and Emori in Becca’s lab, but she was disposable too, right?” He asked humorlessly. “I know you remember that one Clarke, because you drew a little picture of it in your memory book. Let me ask you a question. Did you draw a picture of Bellamy in the fighting pit too?” With a sigh, I picked up a pen pot and emptied it, tossing it at him. He scowled at me, “Where are you even getting those from?”

“We’re in a goddamn school, Murphy. They hold school supplies,” I answered sarcastically. 

He shrugged and winced, and Clarke sent him a half-sympathetic look, “Jackson can take another look at the wound in the morning.”

“Oh, it’s not from the knife it’s from the bullet wounds that I took from saving Bellamy’s life from those armed psychopaths you put back in the battlefield,” he smiled, but it was filled with such bitterness I couldn’t even disagree with the point he made. 

Clarke snapped, “What the hell do you want from me, Murphy? I’m sorry, okay? For all of it. I never meant for you to get hurt, but no matter what I do, someone _always_ does. Is that what you want to hear? That I’m the bad guy? Fine, I’ll be the bad guy. When I’m in charge, people die. Isn’t that what you said?” She paused to glance at Bellamy before turning her attention back to Murphy. “Satisfied?”

“Fucking hell,” I muttered under my breath. We’d been here for less than an hour. “I’m putting my headphones in,” I announced. 

Before I had even managed to pick a song, Miller’s screams rang out and I cursed again, pocketing the MP3. “Make it stop!” He cried.

Bellamy stood up, “Miller, what’s wrong?” 

“Help!” was the only reply he got. 

“I gotta get up there now,” he decided firmly. “Hand me my key, _now_!” 

Clarke sighed, “Fine,” as she pulled out his key. “But I’m going with you. Throw me mine.” They exchanged keys and she called to the room above us, “Jackson use the tranqs! We divvied them up for a reason!”

“We’re coming!” Bellamy shouted as the two of them ran out of the door. 

“Hey!” Murphy called after them. “What about us!” He received no response. “It’s crazy,” he muttered. “They’re all crazy.” 

I frowned, “Murphy?”

He ignored me. “They’re all crazy,” he whispered to himself, pulling out a scalpel. _Jackson’s_. 

“Murphy!” 

Murphy used the scalpel to unlock the shackles, grabbing the guns and running out the door. 

“ _Dammit!_ ” I cursed. _I had to go after him._

Clarke and Bellamy chose that moment to come back in, “Where the hell is he?” Bellamy asked, looking around frantically. 

“Took off with the guns,” I explained. “Used the scalpel to break the cuff.”

They disappeared after him, leaving me in the classroom. I was alone. 

The radio crackled into life and I breathed a sigh of relief to hear Raven’s voice on the other end, despite the gunshots outside. _Too far away._ I couldn’t get to it. 

“Hello? This is Eligius IV, does anybody read me?” She asked repeatedly.

Sighing, I got out a knife and put it against the restraints, making quick work of them and allowing myself to move freely to scramble over to the radio sticking out of Clarke’s bag. “I read you Raven. I can’t believe you fixed it! I knew you’d come through. Listen things are getting kind of—”

“Can you pass me over to Shaw?” she cut me off.

I paused taking two steps back and leaning against the wall for support, clutching the radio tightly in my hand. 

“Alyssa? Pass me over.” 

I could barely get the words out.

“Alyssa?”

“I can’t,” I whispered.

“Why not?” She snapped.

“Because— because he’s dead.”

Silence. 

A tear trickled down my cheek, “I’m sorry—”

“How? What happened to him?”

“Radiation shield. Walked straight through it. He was— he was—”

“ _What happened?_ ”

“He was following me,” I sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”

She paused, “What do you mean he was following you?”

“I went in first… I didn’t see it. My nightblood kept me safe and he didn’t know… none of us did. I’m so sorry, Raven, it’s all my fault.”

A second passed, only punctuated by a gunshot from outside. 

“It is,” Raven cursed. “Dammit Alyssa, You’re going to kill us all. When you’re around, people die. You’re a liability and this just proves it. _You killed him._ ” 

Tears fell from my eyes at an uncontrollable rate, “I know. I know.”

“You can’t just drag innocent people into your mess, Alyssa. It’s selfish. You put everyone in danger.” 

“I know,” I sobbed even more. “I know.” 

“You have to warn them. You have to let everyone know that you can’t be trusted,” Raven told me. “You’re a monster. Carve it into your skin and spill your own blood to make up for Shaw’s.”

“What?” I looked at the knife in my other hand. 

Raven answered quickly, “You heard me. It’ll scar, and you’ll have it as a reminder of every person you’ve killed. And anyone who looks at you will know you’re a murderer.”

_My fault._

I took off the sling and pulled up my left sleeve, placing the radio down on the table. 

_My fault._

I drew the knife, holding it up to the inside of my forearm. 

_My fault._

I started the letter ‘M’, wincing as the blade pierced my skin. 

_I’m a monster._

O.

_My fault._

N.

_Monster._

S.

_People die when you’re around._

T.

_Liability._

E.

_You killed him._

I raised the blade for the final time as black blood dripped down onto the floor, bubbling in droplets from the letters carved into the inside of my forearm. Murphy burst in, his gun raised defensively as I finished. 

R.

“Lyss… not you too,” he faltered, dropping the gun as he ran over. “What happened?”

I sobbed through the pain. “Raven— the radio— Shaw— my fault— _I killed him._ ” 

“You didn’t, hey…” he tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around my arm, sighing as he saw the letters carved into it. “You’re not a monster, look at me.” 

I lifted my tearstained face as he brought me in for another hug as I sank to the floor. “People die when I’m around.”

“This isn’t you,” he whispered. “It’s the eclipse. You were talking to a radio that doesn’t work, I know because I caught Clarke doing the same thing. The only difference is I got to her first… I’m sorry.” Murphy took off my jacket and gave me his instead, but not before he pulled the MP3 out of my pocket. “Too many knives in that one, I’m not risking it. Put these in,” he pressed play on a random song and slotted in the earbuds, “If you can still hear Raven after this then it proves that it’s not real. Anyway, people are going to die if you  _ don’t _ come with me, so you might as well prove yourself wrong while you’re at it.”

I nodded, turning up the volume of the song but not so much that I couldn’t hear Murphy. He tossed the radio and I looked up at him, drying my eyes. “Bellamy?”

“We have to stop him before he hurts someone,” Murphy nodded. 

As if on cue, a scream of “MURPHY!” echoed from outside. 

My face hardened, “He won’t hurt you.” 

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he buried the knife in the wall, my blood still stained on the blade. “Promise me you won’t hurt yourself.”

“He won’t touch you,” I stood up, heading for the door, but Murphy grabbed my uninjured arm. 

“Promise me, Lyss.”

I glanced at the radio on the floor, the bandage on my arm and at the earbud wire trailing from my pocket. “Promise. Now let’s go knock our good friend unconscious before he kills us.”

Somehow, he laughed, “That’s the spirit.”

We got outside and split up, Murphy going around one side and me around the other with Clarke coming from between two buildings. I paused, briefly turning on an outside tap to wash the blood off my hands as Bellamy walked around the village, keeping myself out of sight. 

“I won’t let you hurt anyone else,” Bellamy warned. 

“I could say the same about you,” Murphy emerged. 

Bellamy laughed, “You’re the one with the gun.”

“True,” he nodded, taking it off. “What do you say I put it down and we talk, ok…?” Murphy walked towards him. “Just you and me, a couple of guys stuck on a moon. Nobody else on it, filled with man-eating bugs and toxic plants that turn people who love each other into homicidal maniacs. That’s what’s happening to you, Bellamy.”

“Oh, so you’re looking out for _me_ ,” Bellamy laughed. “John Murphy, court jester.”

“Well,” he shrugged, “It beats useless.” 

“Not by much,” Bellamy grinned. 

Murphy looked around before shouting, “NOW!” and charging at him, but Bellamy was quicker and caught him, punching him in the gut. “Clarke! Lyss! Do it!” The guys grunted, knocking over a bench and getting closer to the water in the centre. Bellamy hit Murphy’s back, sending him to the ground before pulling him up only to punch him in the face. He lifted him up and threw him into the water, holding him under. 

“I will keep us safe!” Bellamy screamed. “Safe!” He dunked him under the water again.

“Show’s over,” I snapped, tearing out the earbuds and running at him and knocking him over into the water. His fist caught the side of my face and sent me backwards, my attack having done nothing to stop him. 

“Shut up!” Clarke screamed, louder than anything else and catching Bellamy’s attention. She looked at him and saw Murphy floating face down in the water. “What did you do?”

I grabbed him and turned him over, cursing as I dragged him back to shore. Clarke ran over, helping me and pulling him onto the dirt as Murphy coughed, trying to roll over onto his front to stand up. Bellamy ran at Clarke, knocking her away from Murphy and sitting on top of her, his hands on her neck. 

It was hard to move as my wet clothes clung to me, but I pulled out another knife from in my boot and threw it at him. It buried itself in Bellamy’s thigh and he screamed, pulling it out and tossing it away from him. Murphy got himself to his feet, lunging at Bellamy and trying to pull him away from Clarke but he picked up Clarke’s blade, keeping one hand on her throat while using the other to swing the knife at Murphy. 

Murphy wrapped an arm around Bellamy’s throat and tried to get him to drop the knife, “Stop it, you’re killing her.” 

“No!” he screeched. “I’m saving us from both of you!”

I jumped into the fray, knocking both of the guys sideways as Clarke grabbed the gas canister, pulling it and releasing the gas which sent us all to the ground on top of each other. 

~

I woke up to the sound of footsteps. Abby leaned over Clarke as she came to and I turned around to see Raven’s face. She looked at me in concern and I blinked. “Real?”

“What?” Jordan asked, holding out a hand to help me up. 

“Are you real?” 

He frowned, “Yes? Are _you_ real?”

I don’t think he understood what I meant, but that was okay since it meant that he definitely was real. “Yes,” I replied, turning around to look at the others. “Bellamy has a wound in his leg that Abby needs to treat.”

“What happened?” Octavia asked, her face filled with a mixture of concern and something else. 

I sighed, “I stabbed him.” 

“You _what?_ ” She took a step towards me and I leant against Jordan.

“It’s complicated,” I explained. 

She raised an eyebrow, “What’s complicated about you stabbing my brother?” 

“Where are the others?” Jordan changed the subject. 

I realised Raven was there, “Raven— I— Shaw—” 

She pulled me into a hug, “I saw the grave. What happened?”

Bellamy woke up, as confused as everyone else to see the newcomers. “Abby?” He grimaced, putting a hand to his leg in pain and wincing. An apology rested on my tongue but then I remembered what had happened and that I didn’t regret it in the slightest. Bellamy noticed Octavia, “What the hell are you doing here? And who is that?” His eyes rested on the lady with them and I realised I had no idea who she was.

“Who the fuck are you?” I glanced at her accusingly. 

Octavia rolled her eyes, “Manners aren’t her strong suit, but then again I don’t really care.”

Abby leaned over Murphy, “Come on John, wake up now.” Nothing, not even a flutter of an eyelid. “His pulse is too weak.” 

I dropped to the floor next to him, “No… no… he was fine, he was fine!” I shook his shoulders, “Murphy!” 

“Mom, what is this?” Clarke asked Abby, pulling Murphy’s shirt down to reveal black veins running along his chest and towards his neck. 

“I don’t know,” Abby replied. 

“Murphy, Murphy!” I shook him again, panicking. “What do we do? CPR?”

Clarke turned around to the sounds of children as they climbed the stairs and appeared. The others stood up to look at them as they ran in happily but I stayed on the floor by Murphy, trying to get him to wake up and failing. Bellamy got to his feet, leaning on Jordan and wincing as he put weight on his leg. 

One of the kids came forwards, closer than all the others and she looked at the woman that I didn’t know, her eyes straying down to the cuffs on her wrists. The woman reassured her, “It’s okay, Rose. Don’t be afraid.”

The girl— Rose— moved to talk to Clarke, who was closest. “Are you here to take us home?”

Clarke frowned, “Isn’t this your home?” 

_What the fuck had we walked into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the show, the red sun causes everyone to go crazy. Bellamy wants to kill Murphy and Clarke because he thinks he's protecting everyone, Clarke things killing herself will save Madi etc. Basically, Lyss has a similar reaction to the toxic as Clarke, except she ends up carving the word MONSTER into her arm before Murphy comes in. He bandages her wound with a piece of his shirt and then they take down Bellamy, but not after he's tried to drown Murphy.


	3. Delilah's Tavern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Just don't give them any more information than they ask for, and don't lie."
> 
> "Unless they ask us about the end of the world, in that case maybe don't tell them you fired the first shot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna put the last few bits of the last chapter here in case anyone skipped it.
> 
> “Mom, what is this?” Clarke asked Abby, pulling Murphy’s shirt down to reveal black veins running along his chest and towards his neck. 
> 
> “I don’t know,” Abby replied. 
> 
> “Murphy, Murphy!” I shook him again, panicking. “What do we do? CPR?”
> 
> Clarke turned around to the sounds of children as they climbed the stairs and appeared. The others stood up to look at them as they ran in happily but I stayed on the floor by Murphy, trying to get him to wake up and failing. Bellamy got to his feet, leaning on Jordan and wincing as he put weight on his leg. 
> 
> One of the kids came forwards, closer than all the others and she looked at the woman that I didn’t know, her eyes straying down to the cuffs on her wrists. The woman reassured her, “It’s okay, Rose. Don’t be afraid.”
> 
> The girl— Rose— moved to talk to Clarke, who was closest. “Are you here to take us home?”
> 
> Clarke frowned, “Isn’t this your home?” 
> 
> What the fuck had we walked into?

The kids surrounded us and I stayed where I was on the floor next to Abby and Murphy. Bellamy raised his hands in surrender as more people arrived, this time adults. “Remember, we’re in their home.”

“Weapons down,” Clarke ordered.

I sighed and tossed my other knife away and it landed next to Murphy’s discarded rifle. The adults got closer and one of them shouted, “Rose! Get away from them!” And they broke into a run towards us with their weapons bared.

“It’s okay!” Clarke called out, raising her hands, “We’re from earth. We come in peace.”

One of the people broke forward and rushed towards the lady I still didn’t know, “Kaylee? Are you okay? Where’s your family?”

She nodded towards us, “They killed them.”

Jordan sucked in a breath, “Well that’s not good…” 

At that moment Murphy began to gasp, his entire body shaking as Abby tried to help him. _No. No. No. No…_

“Help us,” against my better judgement I begged, “Please. Our friend is dying.” 

“He’s not breathing,” Abby whispered, beginning CPR.

Someone who seemed to be in charge stepped towards us and the crowd parted to let him through. “Let me pass,” he ordered. “Move them back.”

“What are you doing? He’ll die!” Abby protested as the man knelt down next to him. 

He sighed, “Do you want our help or not?” The man lifted up Murphy’s shirt, “He’s already dead.” I swayed on my feet, clutching Clarke for support. _No. No. No…_ “Fortunately for him,” the man continued after a moment of silence. “Death is not the end.”

“Did you have to have the suspenseful silence?” I cursed under my breath, glaring at the man. 

“Cillian,” he ordered, and another man stepped forwards. “He was exposed to the seaweed during the red sun. Do it.” 

The man knelt down next to him and pulled out a box, removing a red snake from it with about a dozen eyes, none of which I fancied looking into. He held it against Murphy and it stuck out its barbed tongue, sticking it inside Murphy’s chest alongside rows of razor-sharp teeth. 

“What the fuck?” I whispered in disbelief. 

“Oh my god…” Clarke stared at him. 

The doctor— Cillian— looked up sympathetically, “Trust me, I know, but the venom degrades too quickly to deliver it in any other form.” 

Clarke knelt down next to him, “It’s working…” leaving me to grab hold of the nearest person to stay upright, Bellamy. He wrapped an arm around my lower back and I watched in anticipation as the black lines slowly disappeared from Murphy’s skin. 

“Amazing, isn’t it?” The man in charge said slowly. “It’s curative properties were discovered during one of the earliest red suns. Poison made the demon Gabriel believe he could walk on water. The kepa-she bit him and the toxin from the seaweed had no effect.” 

Murphy gasped, coughing as he managed to get air into his lungs. 

“He’s breathing,” Clarke sighed in relief and I felt Bellamy’s hold on me tighten as my legs went out from under me. 

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, running his other hand through his hair whilst keeping me on my feet. 

“Well done, Cillian,” the man in charge nodded at him. “Now lock them up.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Excuse you?”

The guards descended on us, leaving Abby with Murphy as we fought to get out of their grasp. Clarke tried to fight them, “Where are you taking us? We haven’t done anything wrong!” 

~

They locked us in what looked like a bar, a group of them coming in shortly after and carrying Murphy, with Abby by their side. A few minutes later, more of them returned with Emori, Echo, Jackson and Miller. I leaned on the table next to where Murphy was laying as Emori sat next to him, stroking his head gently. 

“I can’t believe I did this to him,” she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. 

“You didn’t,” Bellamy said quietly. “I did.”

Octavia let out a loud sigh from the bar, “Who cares? We need to get out of this place.” 

Bellamy stood up and turned to face her, “What are you even doing here?”

“I came to save your ass,” she said blankly. 

He began to walk towards her but Echo moved to stand in the way. “Bellamy, no. Not now. If we’re gonna fight our way out, we need her.” 

“Echo, we’re not fighting them,” Clarke snapped. “We need them to teach us how to survive down here.” 

The door opened and four more people walked in. One was a girl wearing a long yellow dress, another was an older woman who looked like she might be her mother, accompanied by two men, one of which was a guard and the other held a tray full of glasses. “Welcome, friends.” The man holding the tray greeted us with a large smile. 

No one is ever that happy to see anyone they’ve just met. It’s unnatural, and I already don’t trust him. 

“If it’s true you survived the red sun,” he continued, “Then you need a drink.” 

Clarke picked one up, “Thank you.” 

“No thanks,” Bellamy shook his head politely. 

I shot him a glance picking up two, “I’ll take his.” 

Jordan took a glass from the girl in the yellow dress, “Thank you,” he smiled before taking a drink. “That’s amazing.”

“We call it—” the girl began, but she was cut off. 

“Delilah,” the other woman said sternly. 

Delilah laughed, “Relax, mother. I don’t think they’ll steal your recipe. We call it ‘Jo Juice’ after Josephine Prime, hallowed be her name.” 

The other three echoed, “Hallowed be her name.”

I raised an eyebrow at Emori who looked at them weirdly. “I’m getting cult vibes,” I hissed quietly, only loud enough for her to hear. 

“Very weird,” she nodded.

Clarke stepped forwards, “If you don’t mind me asking, it’s probably none of our business, but what’s a Prime?” 

“Sanctum was colonised by a team from earth,” Delilah explained. “Made up of four families— the primes. Their blood rules us still.” 

As if they had been summoned, another guard opened the door and announced “Make way for the primes,” as the man in charge walked in with another woman, flanked by several other guards.

“Which one’s the pilot?” The man in charge asked.

“That one,” the woman next to him pointed at Raven and the guards walked towards her. 

“Stop!” He halted them. “Did I say to take her?”

The guards shook their heads, “No, Sir. Sorry, Sir.” 

“Look, if this is about what happened on the mothership, your people stole our transport and then boarded us by force. My people were just defending themselves,” Clarke tried to explain. 

The woman from before, Kaylee, shook her head. “Lies. She wasn’t there. We hurt no one.” 

“What’s your name?” The man in charge asked her. 

“Clarke Griffin. What’s yours?” 

The woman next to him advanced on her, almost disgusted that they’d been asked such a question. “He is Russell Lightbourne, seventh of his line, saviour of Sanctum, and you will _bow_ before using his name.” 

“I don’t think so,” Clarke smiled at her. 

I glanced at Emori, “Definitely a cult.”

“We’re so screwed,” she whispered back. 

“My wife’s a stickler for protocol,” Russell smiled. “But she knows you can’t observe customs that you’re unaware of. You have questions, understandably, and we’ll get to them all but first, we need your transport ship to be flown into Sanctum. You can land in one of the lower fields.” 

“Why?” Abby asked him, stepping forwards. “What’s out there?”

Russell’s wife looked at her unamused, “There are worse things in this world than eclipse-induced psychosis. All of them are outside the shield, and the worst of them would love to get their hands on the weapons Kaylee says are on your ship.” 

“Why are we asking for permission?” Kaylee snapped, “My family is on that ship.” 

“Which is why you’ll be on the team sent to retrieve them,” Russell replied calmly. “What, now you’re afraid to leave the shield?”

“I told you,” she said firmly. “We were late for shelter when we saw that ship. Either we took it, or we suffered the red sun.” 

Abby turned away, catching Clarke’s attention. Clarke moved towards her, lowering her voice. I couldn’t hear their hushed conversation, but I could read Abby’s lips. “Madi is on the transport ship.” 

“What?” Clarke answered, loudly, “You woke her?” 

“What the hell, Abby?” I shot her a look. 

Clarke sighed, “Never mind. Raven will fly the ship, but we’re going too.” 

Raven raised an eyebrow, turning to face us from her seat at the bar. “Didn’t realise you were giving the orders again, Clarke.” 

“Fine,” Russell compromised, “Choose your most disposable people, it’s time to go.” Clarke walked towards him and he seemed surprised, “You don’t strike me as disposable.”

“None of us are,” she replied. “But my child is out there, so I’m going to get her.” 

“Please,” he stopped her. “We have things to discuss. Are you the leader of your people or not?”

Bellamy stepped in, nodding at her, “She is. She can speak for us.”

We all ignored Raven as she scoffed, shaking her head and picking up another drink.

“Good. You can escort your team to the steps,” Russell told him. “The rest of you will remain here, well cared for, until we can decide what to do with you.” 

Bellamy turned to face the rest of us as Russell and the others left. “Raven, Echo,” he nodded to them. I stood up to go, but he shook his head. “Not you, Lyss.”

“Madi’s—” I protested. 

“In safe hands,” Raven assured me. 

Echo looked up, “Octavia, let’s go.” 

Bellamy caught Miller, “Hey, you stay here and keep an eye on things.” 

I grabbed Jackson, pulling him after me and into the small bathroom cubicle. He squirmed uncomfortably until I explained. “Sorry for the ambush. I need you to look at this and I don’t really want everyone else to know about it.” I unwrapped the bandage on my arm to reveal the letters, dripping black blood. “Can you help me clean it, wrap it up, and not tell anyone?” 

Jackson almost managed to hide his gasp, before his doctor instincts took over. “Of course… can I ask what happened?” He smiled sympathetically. 

“Let’s just say I’m not on very good terms with that eclipse-psychosis version of myself,” I ducked my head. 

“I have to patch you up way too much,” he smiled, “How’s your shoulder?”

I pulled the jacket down so that he could inspect my stitches. There was a neat row of them running down the length of the bullet graze, which had to have been slightly deeper than I realised for all the pain it had caused. “It’s… alright. Lost the sling at some point. Think it’s with my jack— _shit._ ”

“What?” He furrowed his brow in concern. 

“This is Murphy’s shirt. My jacket is still in the schoolhouse,” I groaned. _Not good. Not good._

“It’s fine,” Jackson reassured me. “I’m sure they’ll let you get it later.”

I shook my head, “No, you don’t understand. My jacket is in the _school._ With _children._ And it has over a dozen _knives._ ”

His eyes widened as he understood. “You should go get your jacket.”

“Yeah,” I nodded nervously, pulling the sleeves of Murphy’s shirt back down. “I’ll be back.” I walked back out into the bar and Miller raised an eyebrow at me. “What?” I pulled a face. 

He laughed, “If Jackson wasn’t my boyfriend, I’d think you were making a pass at him.”

I rolled my eyes, “You suit each other so no, I _wasn’t_ making a pass at your boyfriend. I just have multiple injuries to be patched up and I’d rather not do that in a room with guards I’ve never met before.” 

“Fair enough,” Miller replied with a shrug as Jackson came out of the bathroom and began adjusting a bandage on his boyfriend’s arm. 

Clarke came back in and Jordan rushed over to her, “Clarke, I have to get out of here, please?”

“Not gonna happen, Jordan,” she said sympathetically. 

“Relax, kid,” Miller laughed. “You’ve been locked inside for twenty-six years. What’s one more day?” 

Before I had a chance to leave for my jacket, Murphy was sitting in an upright position and screaming. It wasn’t pain, it was something else. Something like… fear? He was shaking and in a cold sweat, like he’d woken up from a nightmare. I was familiar with the feeling.

“Hey,” Emori rubbed his shoulder to calm him down but he practically jumped from the table and scrambled backwards across the floor to get away from her. “You’re okay,” she told him gently. “John, John, the toxin’s gone. It’s gone, everyone’s okay.” She looked up at us, “Tell him.” 

“It’s okay,” I knelt down next to him. “We’re all good.”

“It’s true,” Clarke told him. “We all made it, thanks to you.” 

He shook his head, “No, I didn’t. I died, didn’t I?”

Abby came over, “Your heart did stop, but the people here revived you,” she reassured him. 

“I saw something,” Murphy panted. “I f— I felt something.” 

Emori cupped his face with her hands, “John, look at me, talk to me.” 

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to hell,” he replied through gritted teeth. 

“John…” Emori pulled him in for a hug while I sat there next to him, squeezing his hand. 

A P.A system turned on and a pre-recorded announcement filled the air, “By the glory and grace of the Primes, daily tai chi is commencing now. May your hearts be filled with love and light as we love as one.” 

I pulled a face, “Does no one see how weird this is?” 

~

After a while we moved to sit by the bar, and Murphy was wearing a fresh shirt since I was still wearing his. Small shot glasses were continuously pushed in our direction by Delilah and it would be impolite to refuse, right? Eh, maybe I just need a drink. 

“Delilah… I have a small problem,” I spoke slowly and carefully. 

“Keep ‘em coming,” Murphy nodded at the glasses.

Delilah laughed, “Good job we harvest tonight, we’re gonna need to make more.” She turned to me, “You’re… Alyssa, right?” 

“Yeah—” 

“You harvest at night?” Jordan interrupted, not very smoothly as he picked up a glass and downed it, almost choking on the contents. “Oh, that is so cool. I’ve read that it helps preserve the purity of the fruit.” He nodded, as Murphy mimed falling asleep. “Is that why?”

Murphy chuckled to himself, “You need to work on your game, kid. I owe your Pops at least that much.”

Delilah raised an eyebrow as she poured another glass, “His _game_ is just fine.” 

He shook his head in disbelief, “Oh, they grow up so fast, don’t they?”

I laughed, turning around at the sound of the footsteps on the stairs. Abby smiled, “Yes they do,” as Clarke descended them, wearing a pink dress that suited her perfectly. 

“What?” Clarke pulled a face as she witnessed our varying reactions. “It’s just a dress.”

I shrugged, “I guess I’ll be the first to say it, but damn _Princess_ ,” I grinned as I said the old nickname, “That dress genuinely makes you look like a princess.”

She rolled her eyes, “Thanks, Lyssa.” 

Murphy snorted, “Now _that’s_ game.”

I elbowed him with my good arm, “I’m not hitting on Clarke.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Emori grinned. 

Clarke held her laugh, “Thank you for the dress, by the way,” she smiled at Delilah. 

“My pleasure,” Delilah smiled back. “Your escort’s outside.”

I jumped up and walked over to her, “Clarke, could you do me a favour?” 

Clarke shrugged, “Sure, what is it?” 

“I may have left my jacket in the school during the red sun. In the room we were in. It’s uh…” I tried to phrase it carefully, “Got a few things in it that are very important to me.” 

She sighed, considerably unimpressed as she lowered her voice. “You left a jacket full of knives in a building full of kids didn’t you.”

“ _Maybe…_ ” 

Clarke shook her head and laughed, “I’ll go get it.” 

“You’re a literal lifesaver,” I laughed. “Thanks.” I made my way back to the bar, sitting back down next to Murphy and Emori. “What?”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Emori repeated. 

I rolled my eyes, “You two are insufferable, no wonder you’re perfect for each other.” 

Abby put her hand on Clarke’s shoulders behind us, “Just don’t give them any more information than they ask for, and don’t lie.”

Murphy laughed, “Unless they ask us about the end of the world, in that case, maybe don’t tell them you fired the first shot.” 

“Don’t worry, Murphy. Hell’s big enough for both of us,” she smiled at him.

I scoffed, “And me, don’t forget I bought my ticket a _long_ time ago.” 

“The fact that you two are might be there isn’t reassuring in the slightest,” Murphy muttered under his breath. 

~

I grabbed a plate of food for myself and got a second one for Murphy, who was half-asleep leaning on a table next to a bottle of Jo Juice. I sat down next to him, putting the plates down. “Hey,” I whispered. “You okay?”

“I’ve done bad things,” he said quietly. 

“Listen to me,” I shuffled closer. “Whether there is a heaven or hell or whatever doesn’t matter. I’m an atheist, so I never really believed in that. If there is a hell, I know I belong in it, but at the same time, I doubt that when we die we’ll get judged on all of our decisions that we’ve made because some of them have been shitty, but some of them have been half-decent too. I don’t think we’ll be judged for the things we did to survive, only the reasons why we did them.”

He sat up, sighing. “What if the reason was to save my own ass?”

At that point, Clarke appeared from upstairs, already in her old clothes. 

Murphy groaned, reopening the bottle. “Back in your murder gear already, that’s a good sign.”

Clarke tossed me my jacket and I caught it in my good arm, putting in in my lap. “What’s going on?” I asked. 

“Jordan told them everything. Where is he?”

“On the roof with the barmaid,” Murphy told her, and Clarke disappeared to find him. 

I put a hand on his shoulder. “You did do a lot of things to save your own ass. But you also did a load of good things to save everyone else’s sorry asses. If there’s anyone you can talk to about having done shitty things, it’s me, remember?” I tapped the inside of my left forearm through the shirt. “And for a start, this isn’t even my shirt, is it? It’s yours! You gave it to me because you’re a good person who cares about other people.” 

“I’m not a good person,” he laughed weakly. “I’m a worthless asshole.”

“No,” I assured him. “You might’ve been when we first met, I’ll give you that, but not anymore.” 

“Not anymore?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Not anymore,” I confirmed. “I’m talking to the guy who comforted me after nightmares, brought the oxygen-generator before going back to Monty because he knew that’s what he would have wanted, risked his life in an insect swarm to go back for the woman he loved, got shot not once but _twice_ while covering Bellamy in the gorge…” I continued until I saw the smallest indicator of a smile on his face, “And the guy who has repeatedly tried to convince me I’m not a monster, no matter how many times my crappy brain tries to tell me otherwise.” I rubbed my sleeve where the bandage was underneath. “You’re one of the good guys.”

Murphy paused, “You’re not going to stop trying to convince me, are you?”

“How the tables have turned, am I right?” I managed a small laugh, pushing the plate towards him. “Eat. You might need some food to pad out the alcohol with.”

He rolled his eyes and picked up a bread roll, taking a bite out of it. “It’s pretty bland. It’s good, but it’s bland.”

“That’s because you’re supposed to put stuff _in_ it.” 

“I know that.”

“You do, but you were too busy trying to make a point to actually do it.” I grinned.

Murphy elbowed me lightly, “Shut up.”

“What? I’m not wrong.”

~

Clarke called all of us for a meeting before the others got back. I sat at the bar between Murphy and Miller and downed another glass of Jo Juice. “We know their founders on Eligius III were all nightbloods.”

“And we know hereditarily, it’s incredibly rare,” Abby added.

“Princess Clarke, perfect,” Murphy rolled his eyes.

Miller stepped in, “Not perfect if it makes her a target.”

“It does,” she nodded.

“Not just her,” I paused, “Madi.”

“Yeah, that’s why we can’t tell them about you or Madi…” Clarke turned to Jordan. “Unless you already did. Think. You told her everything else.”

“I didn’t tell her that,” he assured her. “I was just being friendly. I’m— I’m the reason they’re throwing us out.” 

I sighed, “Ease up on the kid, would you? Remember he hadn’t actually met anyone before us, if the girl asks him for a story and he knows a good story, what reason would he have not to tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her about Madi or Alyssa, I swear.”

The door opened and revealed that the others were back. Madi ran to Clarke and hugged her as I got up from the bar so that we could do the same. “Clarke! Lyss!” She held me tightly and I smiled, patting her head.

“Hey, Mads. Welcome to Sanctum,” I laughed. “I can give you the grand tour before they kick us out.”

There was a brief reunion involving lots of various hugs and when it got to Bellamy I paused nervously, but he wrapped me in one anyway. “Relax, Lyss. I was trying to kill everyone, I deserved it.”

“I still stabbed you.”

“I still deserved it.”

I laughed, pulling away and smiling as I walked over to Raven and hugged her. “Thank you for bringing Madi back. Even though we just found out that all nightbloods are basically in danger here.”

“So a regular Tuesday then?” She smiled, nodding at Murphy. “You looked better dead.”

Bellamy walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, man,” Murphy patted his hand weakly. 

The door swung open for the second time in two minutes and I briefly skimmed my eyes over Madi for any unnoticed injuries before pulling Murphy’s shirt sleeves down to hide the black-stained bandage around my arm. 

Russell and Simone Prime were, as per usual, flanked by at least eight guards. Russell broke the formation before speaking, “It’s been a long day, so I’ll keep this short. Sanctum was created to be a sanctuary for the human race. After seeing you save Delilah, we’ve decided that you deserve that too.”

Clarke looked at him in disbelief, “You changed your mind? We can stay?”

“For now, but no more of you. You will follow our rules and respect our traditions and we will teach you how to survive here,” Simone replied curtly. 

Russell stepped in with a smile, “What my wife is _trying_ to say is, welcome to Sanctum.” 

Simone walked over to Diyoza, and I realised she had come back with the others. “You’re with child. How far along?” 

“Six months, give or take,” she smiled. 

“Through cryosleep, then?” 

Diyoza nodded, “Right.”

“That’s remarkable,” Simone admired her baby bump. “If you’d like, we can have one of our prenatal physicians examine you in the morning.”

She grinned, “I like, thank you.”

Madi turned to us and smiled, “You should’ve seen Diyoza and Octavia fighting terrorists.”

“Where is Octavia?” Clarke looked around worriedly. 

Russell stepped forwards with a frown, “Charmaine Diyoza?”

“Yes,” Diyoza replied, her confidence wavering.

“Escort this woman past the shield right now,” he ordered. 

Bellamy walked over, “Just wait. What is this?”

“Seems my reputation precedes me,” she explained. 

“You could say that,” Russell said in disgust. “Your face is in our history books next to Hitler and Bin Laden.”

Abby cut in, “Please, what about the baby?”

“If any of you would care to join her, be my guest,” he snapped. 

Madi moved forwards but Clarke grabbed her, “Madi…” 

“It’s okay, kid,” Diyoza smiled at her as they marched her out. “Stay frosty.”

Murphy downed another glass, “One way or another the devil gets his due.”


	4. Is Seriously No One Else Getting Cult-y Vibes?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Blink twice if someone is holding you captive."

The tavern was pretty damn busy in celebration of Delilah’s naming day. I still didn’t quite get the concept of what a naming day _was_ , but it seemed to make all the Sanctum people pretty excited… and they had cake. I still think this is like a weird cult who worships the Primes, but I’ll ignore that for the sake of cake. 

Someone walked past me and I realised it was Delilah’s father. He paused, holding out a plate full of cookies. “A good cookie can change your life,” he coaxed.

“No need to tempt me,” I laughed, taking one, “Thank you.” I took a bite as he walked away and my eyes widened as I lifted up my other hand to stop crumbs from spilling down my front. “I’m never leaving here. The food is too good.”

“There she is!” Someone called, “There’s Delilah!” 

I turned around to watch as she walked down the stairs, Jordan beside her. Everyone began to applaud her and I couldn’t help but admit she looked really pretty. I walked over to Jordan as the doctor took Delilah and Clarke away to examine them one last time. On the way, I grabbed another cookie from a plate on the side. “Have you tried these?” I asked Madi.

“So good,” she sighed blissfully. 

Jordan took a bite out of one, “This is infinitely better than algae.”

I laughed, “Just wait til you try cake.” 

Raven walked over, nodding in greeting. She looked at Jordan and smiled, “You recovered fast.”

“I know,” he shrugged. “Good night’s sleep.”

“Sleep, huh? Is that what they call it here?” Raven raised an eyebrow and I snorted as Jordan leant over to cover Madi’s ears as she laughed. 

Delilah came back over and I smiled, “Happy naming day? I don’t know if I’m supposed to wish you that like it’s a birthday, I’m new to this.” 

“Nope, you’re doing it right so far,” she laughed. 

“I love your dress,” I admired the fabric. It was pink, but it had streaks of dark blue in it that reminded me of something marbled. 

“Thank you,” she replied with a grin. “I’ll be moving into the palace at the end of the day so I won’t be needing any more of my old wardrobe. And, you’ll need a dress of your own for the party this evening.” 

I paused, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m not really a ‘party person’.” 

“But you’ve never been to a _Sanctum_ party,” Delilah countered. “Give it a chance, just this once. I’ll help you pick out a dress later before the ceremony, I promised Clarke I’d do the same for her.” 

“Alright, I guess it’d be rude to refuse a gift since it is _your_ special day, after all.” 

Delilah disappeared to see her mother and the others slowly came downstairs. I walked over to them and said hi, still marvelling at all of the food out of the corner of my eye. Bellamy looked around, “Murphy and Emori?”

“Went to guard the ship with the others,” Jordan explained. 

Echo blinked in surprise, “Murphy giving up the chance to act like a drunken fool? Now I’m worried.”

“He’ll be fine,” Raven reassured her. “Maybe the rest of us should go there too.”

Jordan frowned, “What? No. I need this.”

“We’re guests of the Primes, if we isolate ourselves on the ship they may take offense,” Clarke warned. 

I raised an eyebrow, “Like we’re isolating ourselves right now by having this conversation? Anyway, as much as I’d like an excuse to get out of the party later, I promised Delilah she could give me something of a makeover,” I shrugged. “I’m _endlessly_ looking forward to it.” 

“Jordan?” Delilah called, before looking at the rest of us. “Guys, come on! You don’t want to miss the first confession.” 

Raven sighed, “I’ll be at the bar.”

I followed Delilah and the others outside as a horn blew and people complimented Delilah on her outfit. Russell and Simone took centre stage at the top of the palace steps and he began the ‘first confession’ ceremony. “Welcome to Naming Day.” This caused a cheer to go up from the crowd. “Today we observe the four pillars of Sanctum. They are…”

The crowd answered him, “Repent, renew, rejoice, rebirth.”

I looked around cautiously before hissing to Bellamy, “I’m having a good time and all but like… I’m still getting cult vibes.”

“Correct, rebirth,” Russell’s words drowned out any chance of a response. “Today we mark the return of our beloved Priya, hallowed be her name.”

“Hallowed be her name,” the spectators chorused.

 _How is no one else weirded out by this?_ I’m not scared, just _minorly_ creeped out by how the whole ‘Primes’ thing works. 

“Indeed,” Russell smiled, “As we bequeath her name to our equally beloved Delilah. As is the tradition for every naming day, I will begin the process of making amends. As your leader, it’s my job to keep us safe during the red sun. Kaylee…” He turned towards her, “I failed you in this. When I realised you and your family didn’t make it to Ryker’s keep before the eclipse, I closed the door. I kept it open as long as I could until the life of everyone else was at risk. It was a decision with tragic consequences. I know the heartbreak you feel.” His voice cracked, “I know your pain. I miss Josephine every day. And the fact that I’m the cause of this pain for you…” he broke down and Kaylee wrapped him in a hug. 

They really do this? Like announce all their sins or something in front of a large crowd? Shit, if I was up there we’d all be dead before I could finish. 

Russell composed himself and stepped back towards the microphone. “And now it’s your turn. Tell your neighbour that you love them. Make amends with those you’ve hurt. Free yourselves.” 

~

“I’ve helped Clarke pick a dress— she looks amazing, by the way— so now it’s your turn.” Delilah spun around, holding out something very bright… and very pink. 

“Okay, but not pink. I’m not a pink kind of person,” I laughed.

She nodded, tossing the dress on the bed. “How about… something darker. I don’t usually wear really dark colours, apart from my red and black plaid phase…” Delilah trailed off, pushing hangers to the side while she looked for something. 

“You had a red and black plaid phase?” 

“Yeah, a few years ago,” she nodded, pulling out something dark and red. “You can check it out any time you want.”

I grinned, “Thanks. I’ve basically worn the same jacket and cargo pants for a _long_ time now. They’ve seen stab, bullet and large panther related wounds.” 

Delilah smiled, “As much as I’d love to hear the stories behind them, try this on first.” 

The dress was dark red and strapless, shorter at the front and longer at the back but not so much I’d trip over. There was a fabric rose on the hip along the sash and I blinked as I tried to imagine myself wearing it. I suddenly felt conscious of all of the various scars. “I don’t know… it doesn’t have sleeves and I have a long line of stitches in my arm.” _And a bandage on my wrist to cover up the word MONSTER, but that’s not something I’m ready to reveal._

“How about we try it?” Delilah held out the dress. “Worst case scenario we find you a jacket. Deal?” 

“Okay,” I nodded, still hesitant as I took off my jacket. Delilah couldn’t help but gasp when she saw the panther scar. And again when she saw the shrapnel scar. “You see my point?”

“So many stories,” she whispered, running her finger along my arm but without touching the bandaged skin. 

“On second thought, I’ll be right back.” I picked up my jacket and walked across to the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it behind me. My arm was a mess, to say the least, but I pulled away the bandage to see the neat stitches. It had been… long enough, I think. They’d been in for quite a few days, give or take a hundred or so years, so I picked up the smallest knife from my jacket before thinking better of it and grabbing a pair of nail scissors from the bathroom shelf instead. 

I gently cut through and pulled the medical thread out slowly. It wasn’t without pain, but I didn’t flinch. There was a long dark line for the scar but it drew less attention to itself than the large bandage did and I was satisfied by the time I came out of the bathroom, even though I still had the chunky bandage wrapped around my forearm. 

With a sigh, I took the dress from Delilah, unsure of what to say. “This… is a dress.”

“It is a dress.”

“It doesn’t have any pockets? What’s the point in an item of clothing that doesn’t have any pockets?” _Where the hell do I put knives in an item of clothing without pockets?_

“You’ll figure something out,” Delilah shrugged, urging me to put it on. 

Ten minutes later, I was walking down the stairs in some very thin heels, with Delilah behind me in case I tripped. I had managed to figure out a way to strap a knife to my thigh underneath the dress (not that Delilah knew that) and there was a long thin knife in my hair in the updo I’d done. I slipped on the stairs and almost broke my ankle… or my neck… but managed to right myself before it happened. “Can’t do it,” I laughed. “Bad idea. Need the combat boots.” 

Delilah caved and grabbed them for me and I swapped the heels that were already making my feet hurt for the boots that I had been wearing when I arrived, slipping another knife in from the jacket in my hand before she noticed. I got to the bottom of the stairs and looked up, putting a hand on my thigh and feeling the knife there as I heard a weird rustling sound, the expression on my face switching from happiness to concern. I put out a hand to stop Delilah. “Who’s there?” I called out into the tavern, which was pretty much abandoned at this point as most people had made their way to the palace instead for the party. 

Murphy popped up from behind the bar, “I can explain,” he held up his hands in surrender, one of which held a bottle of something. “The ship doesn’t have any alcohol. That’s my explanation.” 

I rolled my eyes, relaxing. “I knew you wouldn’t skip out on a good party, even if you are only here to nick some of the booze.” 

Delilah laughed, “You could’ve just asked. Take it, everyone deserves to have fun tonight.” She disappeared out of the door flanked by guards and I wondered how Murphy managed to get in undetected. 

He squirmed uncomfortably looking at me in the dress, raising his eyebrows. 

I pulled a face, “Are you… checking me out?”

“Of course not,” he rolled his eyes. “Emori has dibs on me. It’s just weird… seeing you in a dress.” Murphy lowered his voice before whispering, “Blink twice if someone is holding you captive.” 

I had a strong urge to blink twice to see what would happen. 

“It’s a nice dress,” I shrugged. “Really shows off the panther scars,” I gave him a twirl and laughed.

He frowned, “It doesn’t have any pockets.”

“I know, right!” I complained, hiking up the side of it to reveal a knife. “Where the hell am I supposed to put the rest of them?” 

Murphy rolled his eyes, laughing. “Hey Emori, come and see this.”

“What is it?” Emori called from another room, undoubtedly trying to find more alcohol. 

“It’s Lyss in a dress.” 

“Well that I _have_ to see,” she laughed, appearing in the doorway. “Damn, you clean up well.” 

“Willing to join the party?” I suggested.

Murphy shook his head, “Not in the slightest. Enjoy yourself though.” 

Emori pulled a face, “Wait, it doesn’t have any pockets.”

“This is _Lyss_ we’re talking about. She’s already fixed that issue,” Murphy grinned. 

I rolled my eyes, “Apparently I’m supposed to party now, so I’ll see you later.”

~

The music was loud and it was a song I didn’t recognise as I walked into the party in the palace. The lights were vibrant and I spotted Delilah and Jordan making out by the bar. In the middle of the dance floor Clarke was dancing with Cillian the doctor guy and smiling. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Bellamy sulking in a corner and made my way over. 

“What’s up?” I frowned when I saw the look on his face. “Octavia?”

“Among other things…” he sighed. 

I recognised his expression, and it took me a moment to figure out where from. He’d worn the same look… the night we got A.L.I.E out of Raven’s head. “You’ve done something stupid, haven’t you? You’re really regretting something.” 

“How did—” 

“I know that look. You’re hurting because of Octavia, and you’ve lashed out at someone. You’re now regretting it, feeling guilty, and wishing you could take it back,” I sighed. “I know that look because I know you, Bellamy.” 

Bellamy ran a hand through his hair, “I was talking to Echo… I should’ve done… anything but that. I messed up.” 

“Hey,” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Isn’t this whole celebration about ‘making amends’? I mean, it’s weird as all hell for me and I don’t entirely see the point… but I’m having a good time and maybe you should take their advice. It’s been a crazy few days… but eventually we’ll get used to being here and everything will be on the track for normal. Who knows? Maybe this place will be good for all of us.”

“You’re right,” he gave me a half-smile. “But before I go… the valley was your home, you seem to be uh…” his eyes flitted down to the dress briefly, “Settling in well? I know it’s not exactly your home, not like the valley was…” 

I shook my head. “The valley wasn’t my home, not entirely. My home is wherever my family is. Clarke, Madi, you, Murphy, Raven… I’m home. I’m okay. Now go tell your girlfriend you were being an ass.”

He laughed, “Among other things.”

“Go,” I shooed him off. “Before I take out a knife and swat you with that instead.”

Bellamy ducked his head, laughing. “You don’t even have any pockets, where the hell are you keeping knives?”

“Go, Blake,” I warned him jokingly, “Before you find out.”

He walked away limping and I felt a pang of guilt about stabbing him in the leg during the red sun. Maybe I could’ve stabbed him a little lighter? No, he was going to kill Murphy and Clarke. I did the right thing. But _still…_ Well, there’s no point in thinking that now. No use in crying over people you’ve already stabbed. 

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around. The man smiled at me, adjusting his glasses. “That’s one hell of a scar you’ve got there.” 

“Fought a panther,” I shrugged. “No big deal.” 

“Want to dance?”

I raised an eyebrow, “If you knew me, you’d know I don’t dance.” 

“Well, then I guess I’d better get to know you, so I don’t make the same mistake again,” he grinned. 

_Okay, smooth._

“I won’t dance with you, but I will get a drink,” I laughed. 

He considered it for a second before nodding, “Okay, I’m willing to make that compromise. If you tell me your name first.” 

“Alyssa.”

“Jason.”

“Drinks?”

“Drinks,” he agreed.

Two hours later and I was back at his place, but not for the most obvious reason. My wrist rested on the table in front of him. Jay was hesitant, the tattoo gun in his hand just above mine and the design next to him. “This might hurt a little,” he warned. 

I scoffed, “You’re talking to the girl who has two bullet wounds and various different stab wounds. Someone who’s panther scars you _complimented_ when you first met. It can’t be worse than any of those so stop hesitating and do the damn design.” 

“Alright, alright. Just checking you still want to do this. This is one of the most painful places to get a tattoo, even though it’s the most com—” 

“Jay, if you don’t do it in the next two seconds I’ll do it myself, and you and I both know that won’t end well,” I raised an eyebrow and he sighed. 

“Fine,” he had already used some sort of stencil or something to put the design on my skin for him to trace, so Jason began to follow the lines of the design I’d drawn. Well, the design he’d helped me draw since I can’t do art for shit, not like Clarke or him anyway. 

It was a small pot with a few flowers coming out of it. _Apple blossom._ The plant revived by Monty’s algae in the Second Dawn bunker. The plant he used to prove that they didn’t need to go to war. Underneath, in small gentle letters were the words “ _do better._ ” 

Once Jason was finished, he cleaned it and covered it with a small bandage. “Leave this on for about three hours, then take it off and wash it lightly with lukewarm water and let it air dry.” He handed me a small pot of moisturising cream. “Then wash and moisturise it daily until the scabs are gone. Don’t scratch it, put it in direct sunlight or fully submerge it in water any time soon.” He paused, like he was ticking items off a mental checklist. “Yeah, that’s it.” 

I stood up, picking up my jacket and sliding it on over the dress. “I’ll see you around, Jason.” 

As I walked out, I rested my hand lightly on the new bandage, before sliding my hand up and tapping the other bandage further up. _For Monty,_ I told myself, _we have to do better._


	5. Tensions And Suspicions Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "They're immortal."
> 
> "They're murderers. They murdered Delilah."
> 
> "It's not murder if they go willingly."

I was in the middle of teaching Madi and Gaia how to play a card game that my grandmother once taught me on the Ark when Clarke came back in. I’d taken off the bandage and cleaned the tattoo and the moisturising cream rested in my jacket pocket. Although I still wore my old jacket, I’d taken Delilah up on her offer of raiding her closet once she moved into the palace and had discovered how much I loved her ‘red and black plaid phase’. I wore a plaid shirt over a pair of black stretchy trousers, but I continued to wear my old jacket thanks to the lack of pockets in all of Delilah’s old clothes. 

Seriously, who can survive without pockets? 

Madi shot up and bolted over to Clarke to give her a hug. I stood up and went over to say hi, excited to show her my tattoo. Madi bounced from one foot to the other, “Can I _please_ go to school today?” 

“I don’t see why not,” Clarke replied with a smile. 

That’s not right. 

Madi disappeared presumably to plan for school while I grabbed Clarke’s arm and pulled her off to the side, Gaia in tow. “What the hell are you thinking?” I looked up, frowning to realise that one of the female guards I’d recognised from when we first arrived was looking at us weirdly. “And who the hell is that?”

“Apparently people with blood like mine are targets, the Primes insisted,” she said flippantly. 

Either way, Gaia and I switched to Trig in case she could lip read. Gaia took charge, _“Which is exactly why Madi needs to continue her training with me. What happens if she skins her knee? Or, I don’t know, gets a paper cut?”_

 _“As much as I want her to have a normal life, she’s in danger,”_ I warned. 

Clarke opened her mouth, a wave of confusion passing over her face. Before she had a chance to reply, Bellamy came over and asked, “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, fine. Where are the others?” Clarke plastered a smile on her face. 

Bellamy shrugged, “One of the Primes is showing Raven and Emori how to build a radiation shield.” 

“Ryker?” She offered.

He nodded, “Yeah. I sent Echo and Miller to watch their backs.” 

“And my mother?” Clarke asked. 

“Still in the library,” he replied. “Jackson said he found her sleeping with her head on a book.” 

She acknowledged him before turning to Madi, “Speaking of which, let’s get you to school.” 

“Clarke—” Gaia began. 

“Chill out,” Clarke waved a hand dismissively. “She’ll be fine.” 

I raised an eyebrow. Chill out? I’m sorry, but our girl has _zero_ chill. Sanctum is definitely having a weird effect on her. “Are you high?”

She scoffed, “No. Are you?”

“No…” I pulled a face at the same time as Bellamy. 

“Chill out?” He looked at her strangely. 

“What?” she folded her arms defensively, but still smiled. 

Bellamy laughed, “Nothing. Just… happiness looks good on you. I take it you had fun with the doctor?” 

“Cillian? Yeah,” she smiled, “Let’s just say it’ll be a while until he recovers.”

Bellamy shot me a glance and I laughed, shaking my head. “I still think she’s high.”

I followed her outside as we walked Madi to school. Madi grinned, adjusting her backpack. “Thank you for changing your mind.” She paused. “Why _did_ you change your mind?” 

“Maybe I should reconsider?” Clarke joked. 

“Nope,” Madi backtracked immediately. “All good here.”

I laughed, giving her one last hug. “Be careful, don’t die.” 

Madi laughed, “You too.” 

Clarke raised an eyebrow at me as I stood back up, “Why would she die?” 

“Old habits die hard,” I shrugged. 

_“I love you!”_ Madi shouted in Trig as she ran into school. 

I shook my head, smiling. “I really hope nothing bad happens.” I sighed, “It’s weird, but I’m kind of getting used to this place.” 

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Clarke nudged me. “I need to—”

“I almost forgot!” I laughed, pulling up my sleeve to show her the tattoo. “Do you like it? I got it last night.”

“Do better,” she whispered, looking at the words. “Nice motto.” 

“Monty would’ve liked it here,” I said quietly, “He would’ve liked the farm, the party… he just would’ve liked it, wouldn’t he?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Clarke replied as I walked away. 

_“See you later,”_ I called back in Trig, still wary of her guard. 

I walked into the tavern, bumping into Gaia on the way. “You’re going after Madi?”

“They gave Clarke a bodyguard for being a nightblood.” She glanced out of the door in the direction of the school. “Madi doesn’t have that.”

“Good,” I replied firmly. “The last thing we need is to draw attention to her. Madi’s strong, I lived with her for six years, remember? She has the knowledge of the Commanders, and the combat skills taught to her by Clarke and myself. Whatever happens, she can handle herself. She knows where we are if she needs help.”

“I need to continue her training,” Gaia whispered, “Sheidheda—” 

“I know, but you can do that in the evenings and on the weekends. She needs this, she needs to be a kid,” I said warmly. “She’s got this.” Noticing that Gaia made no move to back down, I sighed. “Don’t get too close, and don’t intervene with anything until absolutely necessary. Let her be a kid.”

She nodded, “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

I walked back into the tavern in time to see Bellamy unfold a large map. “Two hundred years, and this is all they mapped!” 

Murphy shrugged, “Why leave when you’re safe, right?”

“He has a point,” I looked at the map. “They’re pretty damn happy here.” 

Bellamy scoffed, “Come on guys, where’s your sense of adventure? We’re pioneers.” 

“I don’t want to be pioneers,” Murphy replied. “Pioneers find the red zone and wind up dead, or get caught in randomly-occurring, psychosis-inducing eclipses. You really want to go through that again?” 

I glanced at the red zone he’d pointed out, labelled ‘TEMPORAL ANOMALY’. “I mean, I’d rather not get caught in another randomly-occurring, psychosis-inducing eclipse, but I’m all for exploring— if we had the right gear.” 

Murphy lowered his voice, “I’ve been asking around and apparently this whole thing’s built on top of cave systems. The bugs start to freak out, the party goes underground.” 

“Right,” Bellamy nodded, “So we find our own cave system. Raven builds us a radiation shield. Murphy, we can’t stay here forever. And even if we could, what about the other four hundred of us?” 

I raised an eyebrow, “We can’t, but we can stay a little longer at least. Madi literally started school this morning. I want that for her.” 

The P.A system kicked in again with the same woman’s voice as before, but it didn’t appear to be pre-recorded this time. “Please join us in the offering grounds to say goodbye to our beloved Rose—”

The rest of the message was drowned out as Delilah’s mother came over to explain. “Rose is being offered to the woods. All of you are welcome.”

“Thank you,” Bellamy smiled at her, before turning his head towards Murphy who began to protest. 

“Don’t even think about taking me to that funeral. Seriously. Take Jordan. It’ll get his mind off of being dumped,” he suggested. 

I smiled sympathetically. “How is he doing? Your first relationship always hurts the most.”

“What _did_ happen to that Astrid girl you were flirting with?” Murphy frowned, “I left with Jaha around the time you two started hanging out.”

I shrugged, “She met my dad. He told her about my past… turns out she wasn’t too keen on dating a murderer.”

“Ouch. It was for the best anyway. I don’t think she liked me that much,” Murphy replied nonchalantly. 

Laughing, I rolled my eyes at him. “Good job you weren’t the one dating her. Wait, where is Jordan anyway?” 

Bellamy looked around before sighing, “I think I know where he is. Come on.” He rolled his eyes when Murphy made no intention to move. “Suit yourself. But if he gets us kicked out, you’re a pioneer.”

Murphy groaned and began to follow him, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me along with them. “I’m not suffering this alone.” 

“Charming,” I laughed. “Wait, where the hell are we going?”

He rolled his eyes, “You think I know?” 

“Bellamy?” I asked instead, but he was too far ahead up the steps and we had to jog to catch up. “What are we—” I cut myself off as I noticed the security panel was open, therefore leaving the door unlocked. “Like father, like son,” I shook my head in mild disbelief as Bellamy pushed the door open. 

We followed him inside the first door and the short walkway into the second. As Bellamy pushed it open, he revealed a room filled with skeletons all propped upright with plaques in front of them. 

“You gotta be kidding me,” Murphy groaned. “Which part of ‘I hate dead people’ did you not understand?” 

“I knew it!” I hissed, “I fucking knew this was a cult!” 

“Quiet,” Bellamy warned, walking into the room. “Jordan, we know you’re in here.”

“What the fuck _is_ this place?” I raised an eyebrow, looking at one of the plaques as Jordan came out.

“What the hell are you doing?” Bellamy asked him. 

He shrugged, “What you would’ve done, the you before Praimfaya anyway. Heart over head. That was my favourite Bellamy.” 

I winced, knowing what he was talking about. The door slammed behind us and I turned around, ready to grab a knife if necessary. Turns out it was only Gaia.

Bellamy sighed in disappointment, “You too?”

“They worship nightbloods, I’d like to understand why that is,” she explained. 

“I’d like to leave,” Murphy announced, but made no move towards the door. “There’s no way I’m getting thrown out of the one safe place on this moon because you got dumped.” 

The door opened again but this time it was Clarke. “This is Sanctum’s holiest place. You shouldn’t be here,” she snapped. Her voice softened, “I’m sorry. I just, uh, I saw you on the steps.” 

“Does that mean your bodyguard could too?” Murphy raised an eyebrow. 

“Good point. Let’s take this outside,” she suggested. 

“Not yet,” Gaia stopped, raising her hand to touch the back of one of the skulls. 

I shuddered, “You really gonna touch age-old dead people?” 

“The mark of the flame?” She made her way along the line. “They’re all Commanders.” 

Bellamy thought about it, “That’s why the symbol was on the flag.” 

“Well, it’s all coming together, isn’t it? Now can we please go?” Murphy gestured towards the door. 

I scoffed, “What happened to your sense of adventure?”

“It died when I did,” he deadpanned, and I rolled my eyes. 

“The ones in the front row must be the original Eligius team,” Bellamy realised, looking at the skeletons. “There’s twelve of them. Oh, and they take kids.” 

Clarke shrugged as she stepped into the centre of the room, “Familial love is a powerful motivator. People will do anything to ensure the survival of the ones they love.” 

“You don’t really have to tell us that,” I laughed. 

“Now let’s ensure _our_ survival and get the hell out of here,” she said firmly. 

I looked around, “Two minutes ago I probably would’ve agreed… but you see, now I’m _interested._ I’m creeped out, but I’m interested.” A heavy door creaked open and we all spun around simultaneously to find out that Jordan had found a secret panel in the wall. “Holy shit,” I breathed. “I love secret doors.” 

“Open sesame,” Jordan whispered triumphantly. 

Murphy sighed, “We’re not leaving, are we?” 

“Nope,” I grinned, walking towards the door. “If they wanted to keep us out, they should’ve made the door harder to find. This expedition is just the result of bad planning on their part.” 

Gaia was first through after me, with Murphy and Bellamy soon after and Clarke bringing up the rear. Jordan shone the flashlight about and as we all came in the automatic lights kicked in. 

Murphy pulled a face, “Operating room attached to a crypt. Really?”

“She was here,” Jordan picked up a pile of things from the corner. “These are hers, I’m sure of it. Still think I’m overreacting?”

“I think we need some more evidence of what goes on down here. Is it like another Mount Weather scenario?” I looked around the lab. 

Bellamy walked around, “Okay let’s think this through. Becca created the flame after apocalypse one. She obviously provided the tech to Eligius III before that. That means that—”

“They’re not Commanders,” Gaia finished. 

“Right,” he nodded. “So what the hell are they?” 

“Let’s find out,” Jordan decided as he sat down at the main computer. 

Murphy smiled, “Monty taught him how to hack too. That’s my kind of parenting.” 

“No hacking needed,” Jordan replied. “The Eligius systems all use the same access code.” He scrolled down the video files until Gaia pointed one out. 

“‘Eureka’, try that.” 

The file opened a video which started with a bearded man obscuring most of the camera. “Here we go again. Today’s subject is Brooke, earth embryo forty-seven. Presents with black blood. Twenty-one earth years old, twenty-two doing time in the incubator.”

Another voice joined him from offscreen, “You can do this, Gabriel. Twenty-five years of work, the failures. This is the one.” 

I frowned, “Gabriel as in ‘Children of Gabriel’ Gabriel? The people trying to kidnap nightbloods?”

“Shh,” Murphy swatted at me, “Now _I’m_ interested.”

Gabriel looked back at the camera as someone began to scream behind him and thrash against restraints holding her to the operating table. The same operating table that we were standing next to. “If I’m right,” he took a deep breath. “The reason all previous metempsychosis trails have failed is because the hosts’ neuroanatomy was not developed enough to support the file size of a mature human mind.” 

“Gabriel let’s go,” the other man appeared. “I’ll hold her down. Do it.” 

“Do— do what? What are they doing?” Murphy turned to Bellamy. 

“For god’s sake, give her a sedative!” The other man snapped. 

Gabriel shot back, “I can’t. We can’t. Full consciousness is crucial.” He moved towards the operating table and gave us a full view of the pale blonde girl strapped to it. “You know that. But I’ll find a better way, an easier way, okay? I promise.” 

The girl— Brooke— moaned as they injected her with something which caused the trashing to subside and her breathing slowed. Gabriel continued talking to the other man, but it was a bunch of science medical jargon words I didn’t understand. 

Jordan blinked in disbelief, “Did they just kill that girl? Did we just watch someone die?”

“The body’s ready,” Gabriel announced, and he held out his hand for the other man to pass him something. The other man removed the cover to reveal something small and blue. Like the flame, they inserted it into the back of her head, but it didn’t have the tentacles in the same way so they had to make an incision and then stitch it back up afterwards. 

After a while, the girl began to gasp and spasm violently, shaking and screaming, “Please stop!” over and over again. 

“Josephine,” the man tried to calm her. But wasn’t her name Brooke? “Shh, shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.” The girl continued to scream as they removed the restraints and she threw herself down from the operating table and onto the floor, crawling away from them and screaming. “Josephine,” the man pleaded. “No. It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re safe now.”

Gabriel took over, kneeling down next to her as she backed into the wall. “Just breathe. Hey. Look at me.”

“Gabriel?” she whispered and he nodded. “Is it real this time?”

“This is real,” he told her gently. 

She reached up and brushed his beard with a finger. “What happened to your face?”

“I got old,” Gabriel replied. “I’ve spent the last twenty-five years trying to bring you back.” 

The girl— Brooke— Josephine— whichever name she answered to— looked up and saw the other man and flinched as he came towards her. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Gabriel soothed her. “It wasn’t his fault. It was the red sun.” 

“The eclipse,” she said quietly. “I was right.” 

“Yeah, yes you were,” he nodded. “It turns out it affects more than just insects.”

“Our memory drives…” she trailed off as she worked it out. “You reverse-engineered them to upload our entire minds. That’s brilliant!” She looked at the other man. “You look like Grandpa.” 

He sobbed softly and hugged her and after a moment she let him. “Congratulations, Dr Santiago,” he turned to Gabriel. “You’ve conquered death.”

Gabriel walked towards the camera again to explain. “The key is a fully developed brain. Once the adult host’s consciousness is gone, the mind stored in the drive uploads with ease. Now, we still have loads of tests to run, but so far, Josie’s consciousness, herself, appears to be whole. In other words, eureka. More soon.”

“They’re immortal,” Murphy whispered.

“They’re murderers,” Jordan gasped, tears dripping down his face. “They murdered Delilah.”

Clarke pulled a face, “It’s not murder if they go willingly.”

Jordan snapped at her, “Did that girl look willing to you?” 

“That’s how they made it better. Easier. By manipulating people into believing they were sacrificing themselves to some false gods. ‘Becoming one with the primes’, like Delilah’s mother said,” Gaia explained. 

Murphy looked at her, “Well, so much for respecting their faith. I mean, no offence. You let a bunch of kids fight to the death to become your god.”

“Murphy, that’s enough,” Bellamy warned him, turning around to face the only person in the room who didn’t seem entirely horrified by this. “Clarke, you’re okay with this?”

“Well, I didn’t say that,” she replied blankly. “I just don’t think they pose a threat to us, that’s all.” 

“They pose a threat to you. You’re a nightblood!” I said incredulously. “Does this not bother you in the slightest?”

Bellamy walked over to her, “Based on what we just saw, I’m thinking that’s the only reason they let us stay.” 

“Madi,” Gaia realised, “I have to get her before they find out what she is.” 

“I’ll go with you,” Clarke decided, following her out of the room.” 

Bellamy called after her, “Bring her back to the tavern so we can decide what to do.” After she left, he turned to Jordan. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“These are all her,” Jordan whispered, looking at a row of skeletons with a plaque labelled ‘Priya Desai’. 

“Log out of the system,” Bellamy told him. “We need to cover our tracks.” 

Murphy came over, “Look, I hate to say it but I agree with Clarke. This isn’t our fight.”

“You still want to stay?” Bellamy raised his eyebrows. 

“I want to live,” he replied. “These people know how to do that forever, as it turns out. That wouldn’t suck either.”

“Madi and Clarke are in danger! They’re our family, we have to make sure nothing happens to them,” I said forcefully. 

Bellamy turned to face me, “You’re also a nightblood! You’re also in danger, remember!” 

I shrugged, “Come on, you and I both know that anyone who comes after me isn’t going to walk out of it alive.” 

He rolled his eyes, “Murphy, reattach the keypad outside the tunnel. We’ll be right behind you.” Bellamy put a hand on my shoulder, “Cover up and take care of any injuries you have. And no unnecessary risks, okay?”

“I only ever take _necessary_ risks,” I replied with a grin, but once I saw the look on his face I turned serious. “I’ll be fine. But we need to protect Madi. They already know Clarke’s a nightblood, but if they find out about Madi who knows what they’ll do to keep us from leaving. They don’t seem to know about me yet and for now, I’d like to keep it that way.” 

~

We sat around the table, and I couldn’t help but think something was slightly off as Clarke tried to convince us to stay. “Clarke,” Madi objected, “If we stay that means we’re okay with what they’re doing.”

“And staying also puts us in danger, so there’s that,” I added.

“Yeah, but what’s the alternative?” Murphy asked, “Go back to space? Sleep for another hundred years on our way to a planet even less likely to support life?” 

“Build our own compound,” Bellamy suggested. 

Murphy shook his head, “We will not last out there on our own.”

“Emori, Echo and Raven will be back in the morning. They’ll know everything we need to build a radiation shield. After that, it’s just hard work,” he said hopefully. 

“Over how many lifetimes?” Murphy suggested, “No, seriously. How many eclipses? How many swarms? How many terrorist attacks?” 

“I agree with John,” Clarke said plainly.

I bristled at the word eclipse, but what caught my attention the most was Clarke calling Murphy ‘John’. I don’t think she’s _ever_ called him John. And I lived with her for six years, all of which we spent telling Madi stories about our friends and not once did she refer to him as _John._ He shot her a confused look but didn’t say anything. 

Clarke continued, “I don’t like who they are either, but we need them to survive.” 

“They’re murderers,” Jordan protested.

“We’re all murderers,” I sighed. “Except for you.” 

He ignored me. “They’re raising people to give up their bodies, brainwashing them into believing they’re gods!”

Gaia interjected, “He’s right. It’s a perversion of everything Bekka Pramheda believed. The flame was about passing wisdom on to the next line, not keeping it all to yourself.”

“Yeah, well, no offence, but Becca wasn’t a god either,” Murphy pointed out. “She was a scientist who made herself a nightblood in the lab the same way Abby did to Clarke, and—” 

“That’s beside the point,” I groaned, cutting him off. “We’re getting off track.” 

Madi sighed, “So much for doing better.” 

I looked down at my tattoo. “Sorry, Monty.”

At that point Jordan stood up, walking over towards Delilah Priya. Bellamy shot up and so did Murphy and I, trying to catch him before he did anything stupid. “Hey. Hey, Hey!” Bellamy called to him, but his shouts had little to no effect.

“I know what you did,” Jordan glared at Priya. 

Bellamy grabbed him, “Bad idea.” 

“Is everything okay here?” Delilah’s parents appeared, watching us in concern. 

“How can you be okay?” Jordan shouted. “She was your child.” 

I groaned inwardly as Murphy and Bellamy held Jordan back, “Okay, it’s time for someone to get cut off. No more drinks for you, my friend.”

“I know you miss Delilah,” Priya spoke gently, “Hallowed be her name.”

“Hallowed be her name,” the others in the tavern chorused, sending a shiver up my spine. 

“But she’s happy, Jordan,” she continued. “She wants you to know that.”

We managed to get Jordan back at the table without incident, and I looked up in time to see Clarke disappearing out the door. Bellamy followed after her, after confirming that Murphy and I wouldn’t let Jordan out of our sight. He disappeared up to bed and I went upstairs with Madi. She got ready for bed and I looked out of the window, watching the people moving in Sanctum, illuminated by the moonlight. 

“We’re in some deep shit, kid,” I groaned, leaning against the cold glass. “We’ve unintentionally decided to live with a creepy murder cult. We’re so screwed.”

“So screwed,” Madi agreed, walking over and leaning against me. 

I laughed, “Hey, that’s my line.”

“Mine now. Along with ‘be careful, don’t die’.”

I snorted, “What do the Commanders in your head say about this one?”

“Nothing good.”


	6. Imposters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "How long?"
> 
> "What? Lyss, what the hell?"
> 
> "How long have you known? How long have you known that that isn't Clarke?"

Madi woke up screaming and I was by her side in seconds, having dozed off next to her bed. Gaia was in the room in an instant and I wish I knew what to do. _Don’t interrupt her when she’s speaking to the Commanders_ , I remembered Gaia’s instruction but I was left confused with what to do. I turned to her. 

“I hate seeing her like this,” I sighed. 

_“Heed your Commander or die!”_ Madi continued to repeat, pushing herself flat against the headboard of the bed. 

Clarke came in and walked straight over to her, “You don’t interrupt her when she’s communing with the Commanders, not even Sheidheda,” Gaia reminded her, pausing when she saw the look of confusion cross Clarke’s face. “The dark commander,” she clarified.

 _“Tears will not save you!”_ Madi snapped. _“Tonight I drink your blood!”_

“It’s getting worse,” I told Clarke. 

“He’s getting too strong,” Gaia explained. “That’s why we have to do the separation ritual. Now.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “What do we have to do?”

Clarke shook her head, reaching forwards, “I’m not letting her suffer. Madi, wake up.”

“Clarke, what the hell are you doing?” I pulled her away, but it was too late. The moment her hands touched Madi’s skin, Madi was jolted awake fully. 

“Clarke?” Madi pulled her in for a hug and squeezed her tightly. 

She smiled, “Yeah, it’s alright, I’m here. It was just a nightmare, okay?”

“No. It was a memory,” Madi frowned. 

“It wasn’t real,” she assured her. 

“You know that’s not true,” I turned to her, unable to hide the confusion on my face. 

“It is real for her,” Gaia said sharply. “And ripping her out can permanently damage her.”

I sucked in a breath, “Damage her how?”

“But it didn’t,” Clarke said blankly. “Did it, Madi?”

“You don’t know what that just did to her mind or to the flame,” Gaia protested. 

Madi sighed, “I’m fine, okay? I’m just tired.”

“Get some rest,” Clarke replied sympathetically as she turned to Gaia and me. “We should go.”

“Yeah, you should,” Gaia frowned at her.

Madi closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “All of you.”

“I’ll catch you up,” I nodded, sitting down on the bed and putting my hand gently on Madi’s forehead. “Cold sweat, Mads. Are you sure you don’t want me to braid your hair back?”

“I’m fine, Lyss. I promise,” she smiled. 

“If you need me, you know where to find me,” I gave her one last hug. “Night.” I shut the door behind me and shot Gaia a concerned glance. “Something’s not right.”

“Shut up,” Clarke said to Murphy quietly once she reached the bottom of the stairs. “Let’s start again.”

I paused, wondering what they were up to before deciding it was too late to care. I walked down the stairs and ignored the strange looks from Clarke’s guard as I made my way over to the more casual seating area filled with small sofas. I could feel their eyes burning holes in the back of my head and I spun around, pulling out my earphones. “Relax, you’ll forget I’m here,” I held my hands and the MP3 up in surrender. “Get on with whatever the hell it is you’re doing.”

Unfortunately, an hour later when they were still awake— although I could tell by the dark circles under Murphy’s eyes that he was lagging slightly— I woke up in a cold sweat from a nightmare of my own. I shot upright, taking the earbuds out and drawing the attention of the others without meaning to. 

“Is this one my duty as well?” Clarke whispered, but I could read her lips. 

“No, wait here. This is mine,” Murphy replied, making his way over. “You okay?”

I laughed weakly, “When have I ever been okay? You’re alive, right?” I reached up and pressed two fingers against his neck to feel a pulse.

“I’m alive,” he smiled sympathetically. “Was I the guest star of tonight’s show?”

“Something like that,” I replied with a sigh, thinking of the sight of him dead, lying limp next to the water outside. Something that was now permanently burned into my memory. “Double feature. You and Madi. You dying a few days ago and Madi strapped to that operating table.” 

“Look,” he sat down next to me. “Staying here may be dangerous, but at least it’s better than dying outside of this shield. We know nothing about what’s out there. Besides, you saw that recording. Madi isn’t old enough to be in danger yet. Only you, and _you’re_ going to be fine.” Murphy finished firmly. 

“And Clarke,” I reminded him. 

An emotion flickered across his face but it disappeared before I had a chance to figure out what it was. “And Clarke. But they don’t know about _you_ and Madi yet, so you’re okay for now. Get some rest, Lyss.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” I gave him a half-smile.

“Yeah,” he laughed. “But you first.”

I nodded, putting the earbuds back in and pressing play. 

~

I woke up to voices in the tavern, getting to my feet and stretching after spending the night on the uncomfortable couch. I made my way over as Echo announced, “Family meeting”, and her Emori and Raven sat down at the table Murphy and Clarke were already at. I slid into the chair on the end and yawned loudly, covering my mouth with my hand and ducking my head. “Where’s Bellamy?”

I looked around and realised I hadn’t seen Bellamy since he left to go after Clarke last night. Weird. “Yeah, where _is_ Bellamy?” I frowned. 

“Why? What’s wrong?” Clarke asked, concerned. 

“We ran into Jordan,” Emori explained. “Is it true? They’re immortal?”

Murphy laughed, “I’m sure he made it sound worse than it really is.” 

“They’re murderers,” Raven said slowly, “And body snatchers. How much worse could it be? We’re out of here.”

“Hey, hey, slow down,” Murphy warned them. “Where are we gonna go?”

Clarke shrugged, “Murphy’s right. The plan doesn’t change. We stay and learn as much from them as we can so we can build our own compound. Bellamy’s out scouting a location as we speak.”

Echo’s brow furrowed, “He went without me?”

Murphy glanced at Clarke, the same emotion as before crossing his face briefly and it bothered me that I couldn’t figure out what it was. I should know him well enough for that by now. 

“This whole body snatching thing just really lit a fire,” Clarke replied. “He’s out with a foraging party.”

“Surely he would’ve said something,” I cut in. “To the rest of us at least.” _To me._

“He did, to me. The whole idea was very last minute, it slipped my mind to pass on the message sooner. Sorry, Alyssa, I should’ve mentioned it,” she replied guiltily. “The rest of you were with Ryker and—”

Echo raised an eyebrow, “You let him go alone?” 

“Wait a second, back up Clarke,” Raven interrupted. “You expect us to continue to play nice?” 

“We do still need Ryker to tell us how to bend the radiation field,” Emori sighed. 

“No, I’ll figure it out myself,” Raven decided. “Besides, Clarke, Madi—” 

Murphy cut in, “This might be our only option.”

Clarke changed tactics, “Raven, I know this is hard, but we’ve all done things we’re not proud of to survive.”

“I haven’t,” she snapped back. “Fine, I’ll try,” she left in a huff. 

Emori sent us a half-smile before getting up, “I’ll go with her. Make sure she doesn’t start a war.” She leant over to give Murphy a kiss and then caught up with Raven as she got to the door. 

“I’m going after Bellamy,” Echo decided, getting up. 

“I think I’m gonna go get some air,” I shrugged, walking towards the door.

“I’d say that was a successful family meeting, wouldn’t you John?” Clarke said quietly as the door shut behind me. 

But _something_ wasn’t right. 

I saw Delilah’s mother and jogged over, “Hey, one of my friends was planning on going on one of the foraging parties, when do they go?”

“Every morning,” she smiled. “And they come back by second moon.”

“Thanks,” I nodded, walking away. 

Every morning. 

But no one had seen Bellamy since last night. 

I ran it over in my head, sitting down on a nearby bench. When did I first think that something wasn’t right? During the lab? No… _before_ that. 

_“Chill out, she’ll be fine.”_ There. Clarke has been acting weird since Delilah’s Naming Day. She changed her mind and let Madi go to school, despite the risks. She returned with a guard. She got this weird look on her face whenever anyone decided to speak in Trig. She didn’t— she didn’t react to the tattoo. When I brought up Monty. _“Nice motto.”_ But it’s not just a motto, is it? _“Chill out.”_ I said it then, and I’ll say it again. Clarke has, and always will have _zero_ chill. The fact that she said the words _“Chill out”_ should’ve been a large red flag in itself. 

Her reaction to the lab. It was dismissive, nonchalant, like… like she’d been there before. Like _she_ _already knew._ Her reaction to Madi. _“It was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real.”_ The blank look on her face when Gaia mentioned Sheidheda. The fact that— the fact that she called Murphy ‘John’. 

_Murphy._ I realised. The look on his face when I reminded him that Clarke was in danger too. The look on his face when Clarke announced that Bellamy was on the foraging trip. The firmness in his voice when he said: _“You’re going to be fine.”_ How could he know that for sure? It was more than just a reassurance, it was like he knew. 

Because he did. 

Because that wasn’t Clarke. 

And he already knew. 

Before I could think of a better plan, I marched back into the tavern, running into him and not-Clarke as they left. “Clarke.” I addressed her, unsure of what to say. “I need to borrow Murphy for a second.” 

“We’re on our way to—” 

“It’ll only be a minute,” I forced a smile onto my face. “I’ll bring him back in one piece.” _Or not, but neither of them need to know that._

Murphy shrugged, “I’ll be right back.” I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him with me between two buildings out of sight. “So what’s so important you had to drag me here? You okay?” Once I was sure that we were _completely_ out of sight I pushed him up against the wall and raised a knife to his throat. 

“How long?” I hissed.

“What? Lyss, what the hell?” He spluttered, trying to figure out what I meant. 

“How long have you known?” I tried not to shout, not to draw attention, but I couldn’t help but raise my voice a little. I pulled the knife away but only so that I could slam him against the wall again, my anger rising higher and higher, “How long have you known?” Before I choked, my voice cracking, “That _that_ isn't Clarke.” 

Tears threatened my eyes but I blinked in an attempt to hold them back, to try and give myself the upper ground. Murphy’s face fell, “How did you figure it out? Were you listening last night?”

“She told me to ‘chill out’. She dismissed the entire murder part of the body-snatching cult like it was _nothing_ , even though Madi was in danger and she would literally shoot herself to protect her she reacted like nothing was wrong. She woke Madi up in the middle of her communicating with Sheidheda even though it could potentially damage her. And— for the first time ever, and I spent six years with her, so I’d know— she called you _John._ Is that enough evidence for you?” I tried to stay calm and failed miserably. “So tell me, _John_ ,” I spat. “How long have you known, and why haven’t you done anything about it?” 

He raised his hands in surrender, “Lyss, calm down. What you’re saying is dangerous and what you’re doing is even worse. If you don’t let me go, Bellamy could die.” 

That was the wrong thing for him to say. 

I pushed him against the wall again, ignoring his wince of pain and I held the blade to his throat again. “What does she know and where the hell is Bellamy?”

“Lyss, listen to me—”

“Don’t call me Lyss,” I snapped. 

Murphy was taken aback, “What?” I—”

“You lost the right to call me by that name when you lost my friendship. You may have been the first one to give me that nickname, but that’s the last time you’ll ever get to use it. Now tell me what she knows, where Bellamy is, and why you haven’t done anything about the fact that that _clearly_ isn’t Clarke!” I threatened him, and the fact that I thought I could trust him, the fact that we had actually become good friends despite trying to kill each other in the past… it only made his betrayal hurt that much more. 

“Almost everything. She knows almost everything. I may have fudged the details a little bit,” he explained, and I loosened my grip slightly. “The person controlling Clarke’s body right now isn’t her, it’s Josephine Lightbourne. She already knew about Madi being a nightblood because Gaia accidentally told her that day in the lab. She doesn’t know about you. I told her that you were in the bunker with the others, not with her on earth and not with us on the ring. Believe it or not, I was trying to protect you. She doesn’t know you have nightblood and so far no one has contradicted her, but if you don’t play along then I’ll die and you’ll end up a host for the next crazy Prime bitch who wants you.”

I felt like I’d been shot. Not really, because I’d been shot before and I knew what that felt like, but this was much worse. “And Bellamy?” I completely breezed past the fact that he said he’d been trying to protect me. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know. Josephine was about to take me to him when you showed up. If I don’t convince him not to retaliate against Russell then he dies. You have to let me go,” he pleaded. “I won’t tell her that you know.”

“What happened to Clarke?” I whispered. 

Murphy sighed, “She’s dead.” 

I let go of him, backing into the wall and slamming my fist into it. _No. No. No. She can’t be gone. She can’t be gone. She can’t— she can’t—_

He grabbed me, pinning my arms to my sides, “We’re trying to not give away the fact that you’re a nightblood, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make it so damn obvious by splitting your knuckles open on a brick wall.” Murphy tore a piece of his shirt off and wrapped it around my hand. “This is how we stay alive. Go somewhere to calm down while I try and help Bellamy and for the love of god Lyss— Alyssa, don’t kill anyone. _Please._ ” 

“Once a cockroach, always a cockroach,” I pushed him away from me. 

“Hey, I—” He reached for my arm in a gesture that was supposed to be comforting but my hand cracked across his face, leaving a red mark from where it made contact. 

“Don’t touch me,” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I was wrong about you, Murphy. I thought you were one of the good guys, but you’re too preoccupied with trying to save your own ass—”

“Lyss, I can explain—” 

I whipped my head back around, “I said _don’t call me that._ Do you understand? The only reason you’re still alive is because you need to talk to Bellamy, and for some unknown reason I can’t seem to bring myself to actually kill you.” I pocketed the knife and walked away. 

“Where are you going?”

“Enjoy hell, Murphy,” I flipped him the finger, not turning back. “So much for ‘doing better’.”

_I am going to kill all of the Primes, set their mind drives on fire and take this compound for us._

~

_She can’t be dead. She can’t be dead. There has to—_

“There has to be another way,” I finished out loud. I had been pacing for hours and my eyes were raw from crying. My hand hurt like hell and as much as I wanted to remove the piece of Murphy’s shirt from around my knuckles I knew he was right about one thing: No one could know I was a nightblood. I wanted to kill them all.

I had spent _six years_ with Clarke. We were family… she can’t just…

I broke down again. _She can’t be dead._

But she was. She was dead and there was nothing I could do. 

_It should’ve been me._

Realistically, the only person who would have any idea what to do in this kind of situation would be _Clarke._ She always figures out what to do. She _always_ finds a way to save us. 

And now she was dead.

Clarke.

Dead.

_Gone._

I had to get back to Madi, but I couldn't bring myself to leave. _I lost her._ Clarke was gone. 

And if Murphy didn’t convince Bellamy, then he would be gone too. 

_I can’t lose him too._

I pushed my back up against the wall and slid down until I was firmly on the ground. 

It had been just over a week, and I’d lost Monty, Harper, Clarke, Murphy in a sense, and now I could lose Bellamy too, and possibly Madi. 

_Get up._

_Get up!_

No. I was being weak. _Get up._

_Get up._

I got to my feet. I had to go back. I had to face them. I had to tell the others that she was gone. I had to be there for Madi. I had to— There were a lot of things I had to do.

So I put one foot in front of the other, and I walked to the tavern.

~

I had ended up taking the scenic route. And by the scenic route I mean it took me hours to get there, instead of twenty minutes. My hand was still bloody, but it was covered by the scrap of Murphy’s shirt. I pushed open the door to the tavern, and everyone looked up except for Murphy, who refused to meet my eyes. 

I looked at them. I said nothing. 

“Lyss,” Bellamy whispered, his voice cracking. 

“I know,” I tried to blink back the tears again and failed, again. _I couldn’t face them. I couldn’t do it._ I turned around and pushed the door back open, walking back the way I had come until I was at the top of the hill. I ran a hand through my hair as I began to sob, dropping to my knees in the damp grass. 

_Why did it have to be Clarke?_

I heard Bellamy come up behind me and he sat down next to me, pulling me in for a hug. I sobbed into his shirt, letting him wrap his arms around me while he cried too, resting his head on top of mine. “We hadn’t been safe in so long… none of us had. They put us in a false sense of security and I— and I let them,” I sobbed. “I wanted it to be true, I wanted to be _safe._ If I’d second-guessed it sooner, maybe if I’d stuck with her, she would still be alive. If I hadn’t been so stupid and let my guard down for the first time in fucking forever, maybe Clarke would still be here.”

“It’s not your fault,” he whispered. “You couldn’t have known.”

“I figured it out this morning. I spent the day trying to wrap my head around it. I should’ve just found Russell and killed him. I want to kill him, we _have_ to kill him…” 

Bellamy shook his head, “We can’t. That was part of the deal. We can’t.” 

I spluttered, “What? Clarke’s dead, and you’re letting them get away with it?” 

“Clarke wouldn’t want us to die trying to get revenge. If we don’t stay here and let them teach us how to make our own compound, then we’re all dead,” he explained quietly. 

“She’s gone,” I whispered. “And we’re going to have to see someone walking around looking like Clarke, someone that _isn’t_ Clarke, for as long as we stay here. Murphy’s a traitor, he—”

“I know.” Bellamy sighed, “But he was right about one thing. Monty wanted us to do better, this might be how.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned my head against him, “Madi. I have to be there for Madi.” 

“Murphy told me that they know about her, but they don’t know about you. I don’t want to lose you too, so no one can know that you have nightblood,” he said firmly. “I can’t lose you too,” Bellamy whispered, “So you can’t do anything stupid.”

“What, like go and murder everyone?” I laughed weakly, “I still want to. But Clarke would want me to keep Madi safe. Shit, she was the mom of the group, she knew how to raise her. I don’t know how to look after a kid… I just followed her lead.” 

“Hey,” he broke the hug but only to look at my face. “You’ve got me. You’ve got all of us. We all love Madi, just like we all loved Clarke. You’re not alone.”

“I have to see Madi,” I said firmly. “She’s gonna… she’s gonna need me.” 

He sighed, “She does need you, but not while you’re like this. You have to take care of yourself first. You’re allowed to grieve.”

“Am I allowed to be a mess? Because I feel like a fucking mess,” I forced a laugh, but it was completely hollow and humourless. “God, you know I was terrified that you wouldn’t come back? In the valley, I had Clarke and I had Madi, but I wasn’t ready to lose you. I had hope because I knew you, I knew you wouldn’t give up trying to come back, even after five years when you didn’t show I refused to believe you were dead. You always gave me hope. But now Clarke’s gone… and Monty… and Harper… I can’t lose anyone else. I _can’t._ I _won’t._ ” I sobbed. “I need you.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Bellamy soothed, holding me tightly, grounding me. 

“You don’t get it. God, it’s _so_ stupid. I called you every night for six years on a busted radio that didn’t even work anyway. Madi told me you knew about Clarke’s calls when she told you you needed to forgive her, but I did it too and Clarke had no idea.” I took a deep breath, “When I couldn’t sleep, I’d climb up on top of this old caravan and I’d tell you about my day. It’s so stupid, but talking to you kept me sane. Even though I was with Madi and Clarke, the thought of _you_ gave me hope because I knew you wouldn’t give up on trying to come back down, even if you thought we were dead.”

Bellamy squeezed me tighter and I focused on the sound of his heartbeat as he spoke, “I counted every day we were up there and I got so damn frustrated when we couldn’t get back.”

“I can imagine. I’d begun to think you were dead at one point, and then Diyoza’s ship showed up and I got my hopes up and I realised it wasn’t you guys, and then you appeared anyway. I swear, you tell me that _I_ had a flair the dramatics, but you appeared half-silhouetted by the rover lights like something out of a movie and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

He laughed a little, “Yeah, you rubbed off on me too much. That and your terrible driving.” 

“I’m an _amazing_ driver,” I nudged him, “I saved your ass in the gorge, remember?”

“I could hear you coming from a mile away. I knew it was you, I could hear the music and see how horrendous your turning was.” 

I scoffed, wiping my face, “At least I’ve never hit a _person._ ” 

“That was one time,” he whispered. “One time!”

I knew revenge wasn’t an option. I knew I couldn’t break into that damned palace and kill all of the Primes. Kill Russell, the man who took Clarke’s life. But I also knew I still had hope, because Clarke would want us to survive, so that’s what we had to do.

~

I walked into the bedroom and saw her tearstained face. Gaia had disappeared and I had no idea where too but I dropped to my knees in front of Madi and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“She’s really gone,” Madi whispered.

“I know.”

“Bellamy says we can’t get revenge…”

“I know. Believe me, I want to. But we have to do better. For Monty. Break the cycle, right?”

“What about what we can do for Clarke?”

“Survive. That’s what she would want,” I whispered. “Even if it means we can’t burn this place to the ground.” _Even if it means we can’t burn this place to the ground…_ **_yet_** _._


	7. A L I V E

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Unless you have a Plan B that I'm unaware of...?
> 
> "Bitch, I AM Plan B."

It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream. That’s what I told myself when I woke up in the early hours of the morning with sweat forcing my hair to cling to my forehead and a headache that refused to go away. 

But it wasn’t just a dream, was it?

Clarke was dead.

It didn’t make a difference whether it happened two days ago, or last night in my head. She was still _dead._ Russell Prime still killed her to bring his own daughter back from the dead, despite how crazy that sounds. 

And I still wanted to murder him. _But I couldn’t._ Not until we have our own compound at least. Then there’d be nothing stopping me from coming back and setting fire to their murder lab. 

I got changed into more of Delilah’s old clothes. Something dark and comfortable that went with my jacket. Bellamy was on his way out with Miller and I caught up to him, jogging alongside. “Where are you going?”

“To talk to Russell about the compound,” Bellamy answered. 

I raised an eyebrow, “Was anyone going to tell me? I want to come.”

“You only want to come so that you can stick a knife, or four, into some of his vital organs,” Miller groaned.

Sighing, I continued to keep pace with them. “I won’t kill him. Clarke would want Madi to be safe, which means I want to know the details of this ‘peace’ agreement. I won’t try anything, I swear.”

“Promise?” Bellamy asked cautiously. 

“I won’t jeopardize this for us, I promise.”

~

“Alright, in exchange for ignoring that you murdered Clarke…” Bellamy trailed off as Josephine entered, and I switched my glare from Russell to the girl wearing Clarke’s face. “You build us a compound,” he managed to finish. 

Russell adjusted his jacket, “What about the mother and child? Will they agree?”

I clenched my fist, Josephine was wearing a very un-Clarke-like outfit and even though she looked nice in it, it was unnatural to witness. 

“I’ll handle our people,” Bellamy told him sternly. “How long will it take to build?”

Josephine cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself.

“Just a moment, Sweetheart,” Russell promised. “With all of our people helping you, it will go much faster. Talk to Ryker about a work schedule and you’ll need a detail of about fifty of your own people.”

Bellamy looked over to Josephine, and his eyes trailed down to her arm, where her finger was tapping. He began to scribble notes on the pad in front of him, and I had a suspicion that he wasn’t entirely listening to Russell’s instructions. 

“Bellamy, do we have a deal?” Russell snapped his attention back and Bellamy nodded. 

“We’re good for now,” he confirmed. 

I sighed, “Are we done here?”

Josephine scoffed, “Got someplace better to be?”

“Anywhere but here,” I smiled falsely. 

“I know about you… Lyss, is that right?”

My hands clenched into fists again, my nails digging into my palms. “Alyssa to you.” 

“Had any more nightmares recently? The one the other night seemed _quite_ intense,” she smiled. 

I took a step forward and shrugged off Miller as he tried to hold me back, lowering my voice. “Listen up _Josie_ you murdering psycho bitch. Right now, I’m playing the long game because I want to do what’s best for my family, but if you so much as _think_ about double-crossing us or doing _anything_ like that, then I know at least two dozen different ways to kill you and your family, and then maybe you’ll see what it was like for us to lose Clarke.” 

Josephine laughed, “You should keep this one on a leash, I think she bites.” 

Russell raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure _she_ won’t put our agreement at risk?”

“Trust me,” I laughed, “If I was going to kill you, you’d be dead already.” I stepped back and plastered a grin on my face. 

“I’ll order for construction to begin,” Russell stepped in front of his daughter and gestured to the door. 

Bellamy nodded at Miller, who now had a firm hand around my arm, “Let’s go.” 

“Aw,” I whispered, “But I was having _so_ much fun.”

“Are you trying to blow this for us?” he hissed back. 

“Relax, if they know anything about me they’d know that this isn’t entirely willingly. If I didn’t make a scene they wouldn’t believe us,” I sighed. “Besides, the number of ways to kill her is closer to eighteen, not two dozen, but they don’t need to know that.”

Once the door had shut behind us, Bellamy pulled out his notepad. “Hey, remember when Pike taught us morse code?” 

Miller pulled a face. “I slept through most of earth skills so—” 

“Okay, Josephine was tapping out morse code on her arm,” he passed over the notepad. It had various dots and dashes that he’d noted down on it, but the letters he’d written beside them was what caught my attention. A L I V E.

“What does it mean?” Miller asked. 

“It means Clarke’s alive,” Bellamy whispered, his face hardening into an expression of determination. “And we’re gonna get her back.” 

I grinned, “Now _that’s_ definitely a better plan that what I had in mind.”

“What did you have in mind?” Miller raised an eyebrow. 

I ducked my head, “You don’t need to know that now.” 

“It was murder, wasn’t it?” 

“Like I said, that’s irrelevant now. We have to find a way to save Clarke.” 

~

We gathered around the table to try and work out a plan. The general consensus was that we need to figure out how to get out the mind drive containing Josephine without damaging Clarke. 

“We need Raven,” Echo decided. “She’ll know what to do.”

“Raven’s not here,” Madi reminded us. 

I put an arm around her, “We are going to get Clarke back. She’s still in there, we’re not giving up on her.” 

“When the transport ship lands, we’ll be waiting in the field with Josephine,” Bellamy said firmly. “Once we’re all back on the mothership Abby, Raven, and Jackson will go to work.”

Miller paused, “What if they don’t open the shield and let us out?”

“If they don’t, Josephine dies,” Echo answered flatly. 

“What about Delilah?” Jordan asked hopefully, “If Clarke’s still alive, then she could be too?” When he was greeted with silence he sighed, “You only care about Clarke.”

“That’s not true, but worry about Clarke for now,” Bellamy replied. “We start asking questions and the Primes figure out why—” 

“They can’t figure it out if they’re dead,” announced Madi blankly. “Once we kill the Primes, we take over Sanctum. We save Clarke here in the lab that was built for it.”

Bellamy looked at her in concern, “Is that your idea, or Sheidheda’s?”

“Who cares if it works?” She shot back. 

I sighed, “I like the way you think Mads, but this requires a more delicate touch. I’ve been told time and time again that murder isn’t a good distraction tactic.”

“I’d say being dead is pretty distracting,” she objected. 

“Damn, I taught you well,” I whistled. “But unfortunately it would raise suspicions and that’s the last thing we need. We need to fly _under_ the radar.”

“I’ve been surveilling the one named Miranda. We kill her and let them find the body. They’ll think it’s the Children of Gabriel and panic, locking themselves inside the palace, probably the great hall.” Madi suggested. “And that’s where we’ll be waiting to take out the rest.”

“We’re not killing Delilah,” Jordan shook his head. 

She sighed, “Delilah’s already dead.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” he protested.

I sent him a sympathetic look, “Until we figure out _how_ Clarke is alive, we won’t know.”

“Right, but what we do know is _I’m_ the Commander,” Madi said firmly. “Echo thinks it’s a good plan, don’t you, spy?”

Echo turned to look at her, a false smile on her face, “A little _aggressive_ for the situation, but it could work if we were willing to kill all of their people along with them when they come after us for killing their gods.” 

Madi glanced past her before returning her attention to the table, “We are.”

“No, we are not,” Bellamy shut her down. “Gaia would tell you the same thing if she were here. We have until the ship lands to come up with a quiet way to get Clarke on it.” 

“What about Murphy and Emori?” Jackson asked worriedly. 

“For now, we tell them nothing,” Bellamy decided.

Echo frowned, “Emori too?”

“We have to assume that she’s with him,” he replied. “Don’t worry, when it’s time to go we’re taking them with us. Even if we have to do it by force.” 

“So what’s the plan?” 

~

I looked at myself in the mirror. Tired, anxious. The rings under my eyes were pretty self-explanatory about the fact that I had barely gotten any sleep. The past forty-eight hours were on the verge of giving me whiplash. Clarke’s dead. Grief. Pain. Nightmares. Clarke’s _not_ dead. Happiness. Planning. _Running out of time._

With a sigh, I unwrapped Murphy’s shirt fabric from around my hand and replaced it with a real bandage. It had started to scab a little but there were still grazings of nightblood around the injury and I couldn’t risk it being seen. I splashed some cold water on my face and my eyes strayed down to the bandage on my forearm. Jackson had changed it recently but I hadn’t looked at it. I refused to look at it each time he examined it and the only other person who knew what was under there was Murphy, and I wasn’t too keen on talking to _that_ traitor anytime soon. 

Slowly, carefully, I unwrapped the bandage and ran a gentle finger over the letters beneath. _Monster._ The letters were dark scabs now, dark enough to still contrast against my pale skin. I covered them up again to hide the nightblood, but soon I wouldn’t have to. Once it’s healed, I’d only be left with scars. Scars and ghosts.

“Lyss! It’s go time, we’ve got complications and need to move _now_ ,” Miller pounded on the door. “It’s now or never.”

I unlocked it and walked out, rolling down the sleeves of my jacket and pulling down Delilah’s hoodie even further. “Well when you put it like that, we better not be late. Where do you need me?” 

“Jax and I are going after Madi, then we’re meeting you there. You need to get to the radiation shield to help Emori.”

“Be careful, don’t die,” I reminded him. 

“Never a dull moment, is there?”

~

Bellamy and Echo appeared behind Emori and I watched from out of sight as Murphy backed away towards Josephine. 

She laughed, “You know, I admire you guys. I really do. If the other Primes had _half_ your balls, we’d be swimming in hosts and none of this would be necessary, but unfortunately, it is, so I’m gonna give you the facts because I really don’t think you’ve thought this through. Yes, Clarke’s alive, but the brain we now share is dying, so unless one of you is a neurosurgeon, this body will die in hours, not days. My mind will be backed up and hers won’t.”

“Actually,” Echo smiled, “Our neurosurgeon’s on his way.” 

“Jackson,” Murphy realised. 

Josephine shrugged, “Huh, okay. Sure. Let’s say that he figures it out. He won’t, but, just for fun, where you gonna operate? Here? In a joberry field?”

“Actually we’re thinking about using one of the fourteen research outposts marked on the map your father gave us,” Bellamy replied. 

“Well it’s too bad you can’t get past the radiation shield,” Josephine smiled. 

“Oh, that’s where the EMP comes in,” he answered with a grin, motioning for Emori to go towards the nearest tower. 

As soon as Emori began to walk, Josephine grabbed Murphy and put him on his knees, holding up a scalpel to his throat. “I’m sorry, John.” She looked over to Emori, “Step away from the device.” 

“You think we care about that traitor?” Bellamy asked her, trying to buy time. 

Josephine smiled, “Lord knows you shouldn’t, but, yeah, I do. Which brings us to yet another episode of “no good choices”. Clarke would love this. Either you let Murphy die in a doomed attempt to save her, starting a war with my father, or we stay friends and live happily ever after. Unless you have a Plan B that I’m unaware of...?” 

I grinned, stepping out from where I’d been hiding. “Bitch, I _am_ Plan B.” I pulled a knife out. “There are several ways this can go, and I have enough knives for each of them. If you don’t give up Clarke, and you both die, we can remove your mind drive and make sure you don’t come back. Either you come willingly, or not at all.” 

“You wouldn’t kill her,” she laughed. “I’ve seen inside her mind. You love her too much for that. I also know all about _you_ , and all about your wonderful blood. You wouldn’t make a half-bad host if this one dies.” 

“I may not be able to kill _Clarke_ , but you were right about one thing. Some of us don’t care as much about that traitor in front of you, and if I take _him_ out then you have no leverage,” I replied calmly. _Please take the bluff, please take the bluff._

Josephine rolled her eyes, “You’re bluffing.”

“Are you willing to take that chance?” I raised an eyebrow. 

“She’s not,” Murphy said quietly. “She’s not bluffing.” 

A large alarm rang out and I looked around, trying to figure out what it meant. Josephine smiled, “That can’t be good for you. Stand down now, and this never happened.” I tightened my grip on the weapon. 

“We can’t do this without Jackson,” Echo whispered. 

“You can,” Murphy replied. “Find Gabriel. He was one of them but then he bailed, Ryker helped him escape.”

Josephine scoffed, “Gabriel left seventy years ago. He’d be one hundred and six by now, also known as dead.”

The sound of motorcycles in the distance caught my attention, but what interested me most was the look on Josephine’s face. I laughed, “If that were so true, then why do you look so concerned?” 

“Here they come,” she whispered. 

“Set the EMP,” Echo shouted to Emori as I drew another knife. 

Josephine shrugged, leaning towards Murphy to whisper, “So much for forever.” She removed the scalpel from by his neck and sliced his leg. He fell to the ground with a cry of pain and I groaned. At this point, we were getting closer to Plan C. Then again, none of the others actually _knew_ about Plan C, but I had created my own Plan B, C and D just in case. 

“John!” Emori screamed, rushing over to him and trying to stop the blood flow. 

Josephine tried to run for it but I tackled her as Echo tried to put on restraints. Emori shouted instructions to Bellamy on how to set the EMP and I wrestled Josephine onto the floor. It was slightly more difficult than I expected because even though she didn’t have Clarke’s combat moves she had Clarke’s defined muscles, which made us slightly more evenly matched. 

I’d like to point out that if this was Josephine’s first form I’d have had her trying to tap out within ten seconds. 

Bellamy came and held Clarke steady as Echo swapped places with him to set the EMP. 

“We got this,” Echo reassured him. 

“You so don’t,” Josephine interjected. 

The shield flickered as the EMP went off. “It’s down! Go!” Echo shouted to Bellamy but as he tried to pull her through she dropped to the floor to make it harder for him, so that he’d have to drag her. 

I groaned, “You’ll never make this easy, will you?” As I ran over and pulled her along into the treeline as the shield flickered back in, running back through into the compound before the motorcycles arrived. “Bellamy?” He looked up to listen. “Bring her home.”

“Emori, leave him, we have to go!” Echo shouted.

“I’m staying,” she replied firmly. “Go find our friends.”

I nodded, “Take this,” I tossed her a small blade. “Keep it out of sight.” I ran with Echo and we tried to stay low to avoid the bikes that soared past us at one point, headed towards the shield. Towards where Clarke and Bellamy had escaped. Towards Emori and Murphy. “Screw it,” I whispered.

“Alyssa, you can’t just—” Echo tried to stop me but I had already pulled out a blade, tossing it so that it landed firmly in the back of one of the rivers, causing them to fall off the bike. “Low profile, remember? We have to get the others.”

“And now there’s one less person after us,” I replied nonchalantly. “You’re welcome.”

  
  



	8. We're Definitely Past Plan C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're willing to kill for your family. I know, so am I. In fact, I have, multiple times. But do you know what sets us apart? I'm also willing to die for mine."

“What’s the plan?” I whispered to Echo. “They’re going to know we’re hiding out somewhere, that someone is helping us. Eventually, they’ll figure out who.”

Echo, Gaia and I were hiding out on the second floor of Ryker’s machine shop, listening as he told Delilah’s parents and a man that I didn’t know about how their children were dead and the Primes were false gods. 

Gaia hissed, “The transport ship is back, the fuse is lit, how do we get our people out?”

“I have a plan…” I trailed off, “But it’s not a good one, and Bellamy would kill me if he knew.”

“So we don’t have a viable plan?” Echo raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, revolutions take time.”

“I don’t care about their revolution,” Gaia snapped. “We need to get our Commander out of here.” 

A thought occurred to me, and I didn’t like it. “Madi already has the flame in her head. What’ll happen if they try and put a mind drive in and find it?” 

“I’d rather not find out,” Gaia replied. 

Echo sighed, “She banished you. Still, she’s all you care about. Anyway, let’s hope the null guards are more easily swayed.”

“Meaning what?” She asked in concern.

“Meaning if they don’t rise up and overthrow their false gods once they learn the truth, we’re gonna need a Plan B.”

“This _was_ Plan B,” I cut in. “Hell, this was Plan _C._ My Plan D ends in a lot of murder, and something tells me that won’t work very well, but believe me when I say you do _not_ want to hear Plan E.” 

Echo raised an eyebrow, clearly interested, “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

A knock at the door raised tensions and Echo reached for her bow as I slid my hand inside my jacket to close around a knife. Ryker moved to open the door, talking to someone outside before closing it and returning to the group nervously. 

“Go directly back to your quarters,” he told them. “If you get stopped, you show them my work orders.”

The man I didn’t recognise was practically shaking with either fear or apprehension at this point. “Wait. What do we do with what you told us?” 

“Nothing yet,” Ryker replied. “Once enough people know the truth, we can change things. Peacefully.” The others left and he closed the door quietly behind them before leaning against it and sighing as we descended the stairs. 

Echo rolled her eyes as she came down first, “Peacefully, huh? Keep telling yourself that, Ryker.” Her expression was hard and determined but when she saw his face, it changed to one of worry. “What’s going on?”

“They’re executing one of your people tonight for killing Miranda.”

Gaia tensed, “Madi?”

“Not, it won’t be her. She’s a host,” I reminded her. 

“Exactly,” Ryker nodded. “If I know Simone, she’ll let them choose who dies themselves.” 

“How do we stop it?” Gaia asked firmly. 

“We don’t,” Echo decided. “I’ll need you to add a scope to my bow and get me to a window with a view.”

Gaia raised an eyebrow, thinking it over. “Plan D.” 

“Woah, you’re not assassinating anyone,” Ryker protested. “I agreed to hide you, I agreed to tell people the truth.”

“You did that because I threatened to expose you as the traitor who let the demon Gabriel go free, which is exactly why you’ll do this,” Echo held out her bow to him and he sighed, taking it. “Ryker, admit it,” she called to him. “It feels good to be on the right side.” 

Gaia pulled Echo aside, “If you miss, one of our people dies.” 

“I won’t miss,” Echo assured her. 

“So who will they choose?” she asked.

I sighed, “Murphy. Without a doubt. And even though he’s an ass, I’m not ready to let him die. I have faith in your bow skills… but I think our Plan _D_ needs its own Plan _B._ I have an idea…”

“Why do I know I’m not going to like this?” Gaia groaned.

“Well… it’s Plan E.”

“It’s official, we’re all going to die,” Echo shot me an unimpressed look.

“Not exactly. Not _all_ of us.”

~

Gaia had been captured (part of the plan) to get a message to the others and Echo was in position checking out the site where they’d be doing the execution. I was waiting for it to begin. I was the distraction. And as it turns out, I’m very good at distracting. Even when the distraction (annoyingly) _doesn’t_ involve murder. 

My part in the plan involved distracting Russell and the guards long enough to get him in a good enough position to be taken out by Echo. 

And then everything went to shit.

They decided they weren’t going to just execute Murphy, they were going to execute everyone except for Madi. This complicated things. Plus, I had no idea that ‘execution’ meant _burning at the fucking stake._

“I came to this world with a dream. From that dream, we created Sanctum and gave life to every single one of you. Simone and I have loved you as we loved your parents and their parents before them. You are our children, and for two hundred years we taught you not to fight, we taught you to forgive, but there are some things for which there can be no forgiveness. Josephine is missing, taken by them beyond the shield, and must now be presumed to be dead. I pray to all that is holy that she will someday return,” Russell’s speech would’ve been heartwarming if it wasn’t a load of shit. 

“He’s lying!” Emori shouted. “They’re not gods!” She earned a blow to the ribs for her efforts and Murphy squirmed as he tried to set himself free to get to her. 

Russell continued, seemingly unperturbed by the disturbance, “The disease these blasphemers brought with them from earth has spread. Today, my beloved Simone has been murdered too, by one of our own. Our Sanctum family has been violated. We must defend it! You must defend it! What we do now, we do for the dream that was… and will again be Sanctum.” 

They brought out the flaming torches and it was now or never. I emerged from the crowd, pushing my way to the front. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” 

All the guards raised their guns at me, but my confidence was unwavering. “Or that.”

“Why would you think dying would save your friends?” Russell frowned. 

“Because,” I smiled sweetly. “You wouldn’t dare waste a perfectly good host.” To say that there were gasps was an understatement. I pulled out a knife and sliced my palm, raising my hand to reveal the nightblood but not before wiping it across my forehead to prove a point, staining it black and bringing their _lovely_ execution ceremony to a halt. “Prepared to negotiate?” 

_Come on, Echo. Take the damn shot._

Russell hesitated, ignoring the murmurs from the crowd and the guards as they were forced to lower their weapons. “Why reveal yourself now?” 

“Because I would literally go to the end of the earth— end of any fucking planet, really— to keep my family safe. Here’s the punchline. You’re willing to kill for your family. I know, so am I. In fact, I have, _multiple_ times. But do you know what sets us apart? I’m also willing to die for mine.” I cocked the gun that I had hidden down the back of my waistband and placed it against the side of my head. “And if you’re as short on hosts as you say, that might not be the best thing for you.” 

_Take the damn shot._

To be honest, I could probably take him out from here, but with the amount of guards they could easily set my friends ablaze before catching me. Besides, I was here for the _show_ not the _murder._ For once, anyways. 

“Russell, you don’t need to do this, please,” Murphy pleaded. His expression was pained and his gaze continued to shift between me, the gun in my hand, and Russell. “Russell!”

“Let them go, and maybe we can talk. If not, you don’t get your daughter back, or maybe your wife, or anyone else ever again,” I forced an exaggerated yawn. “So, you know, tick tock.” 

_Take the damn shot, Echo._

Russell turned to Murphy and Emori and laughed, “To think, your bones could’ve ended up in the Reliquary.”

“Eyes over here, Lightbourne. I’m not done talking to you yet.” I tried to play for time. There were only so many ways this could go. 

_Where the hell is Echo? Take the goddamn shot!_

“Bones,” Murphy whispered.

_Come on, Echo._

“Cut them loose and we can have a civilised conversation about my proposition,” I announced, gestured to my friends. “I know you only have one host left, Madi, but according to the video file that I saw in that little lab of yours… you can’t use her for quite a few years. I _also_ know that your daughter is fighting Clarke in her own head right about now. My solution works for that too. _Cut. Them. Loose._ ” 

“We can have a conversation. Right here,” Russell smiled.

I rolled my eyes, “I would… but I don’t trust you not to kill them afterwards. I didn’t bring this gun for show, you know. It’s not a toy.” 

“I have experience with negotiations,” he paused. 

“And I have experience with shooting people in the head.” 

_Echo, where the fuck are you?_

Something wasn’t right. 

There was a flaw in the plan. 

Echo wasn’t coming. 

Which left two options. One: shoot Russell and we all die, and when the next host is born he comes back to life, leaving Madi with Sheidheda and liable to be the next Josephine. Or two: shoot myself, leaving me dead, and everyone else to die. 

Well, this wasn’t Plan E for nothing. 

I looked to Miller. He may have slept through earth skills but you can’t not know SOS in morse code. It’s like, imperative to survive. Three short, three long, three short. Break. Repeat. S. O. S. 

What I hadn’t expected was for another of the Children of Gabriel’s undercover operatives to shoot me in the back with a paralytic dart before getting taken out himself. Which left me on the floor, defenceless, in enemy territory. _Float me now._

The guards descended on me. I could still see and hear everything, but I couldn’t speak or move. I could hear Murphy’s voice. 

“Wait! We can still make nightblood. Russell, listen to me, okay! You can still save your wife!” He paused, watching Russell’s reaction. “Bone marrow.”

Two guards lifted me up, carrying me as I lay weak and limp in their arms. Raven interjected, “It’s true! Abby can do it just like she did it for Clarke and Alyssa.” 

“We tried bone marrow transplantation a hundred years ago,” he replied blankly. “It failed.”

_Well then you must have been doing it wrong._

Abby sighed, “That’s because you don’t know the formula. And if you kill us, you never will.”

Russell hesitated, before giving the order. “Take them down.” 

“I need a nightblood donor,” she looked him up and down. “You’ll do just fine.” 

“Take the child host to my lab,” he ordered, “And the paralysed one, too.”

Abby tried to protest but Raven stepped in front of her, “Abby, it’s okay.” She turned to Russell, her voice authoritative, “We’ll give you a list of materials. And we’ll need access to a computer.” 

“You have twenty-four hours,” Russell replied, and that was the last thing I heard before being carried inside. 

That went about as well as expected.

~

They’d moved an extra table into the lab to lie me on while Abby worked on Madi. There was only so much bone marrow that could be taken from her so soon they’d move on to me. I could hear Jackson and Abby and I could hear Madi’s laboured breaths from the chair next to me. A sharp pain in my leg caused me to wince, and I realised that if I felt the pain… then that meant. I sat upright, and the speed of the movement made my head spin but I was upright nonetheless. 

I stretched my aching muscles. “Thanks.”

Jackson was hovering over me, a needle in his hand filled with what I presumed was the antitoxin for the paralytic. “Dying? That was your master plan?”

“In all fairness,” I sighed, “That was Plan E. The other plans didn’t go so well. Have you seen Echo yet? She was supposed… she was supposed to shoot.” 

“No sign of her yet,” Abby replied, checking me over. “That wasn’t a very good plan.” 

“I was only the distraction! It was that or kill everyone,” I shrugged. “Russell was supposed to die, but things got complicated and we ran out of backup plans. What’s happening now?”

“Russell gave us twenty-four hours to extract some of Madi’s bone marrow, enough to prove that we can use it to make them more hosts. Madi can’t take much more, so we’ll need to start taking some from you soon,” Jackson explained. 

I paused, “Okay. Do we have a plan to get out of here?” 

“We will.” 

Raven rushed in, “They’re coming, everybody out. Lyss, play paralysed.” 

“Gotcha.” I lied back down, facing the ceiling as the others were ushered out, Jackson the last to go. I tried to stay perfectly still as Russell came in. He was accompanied by Clarke, but if Bellamy hadn’t managed to find Gabriel, then it could be Josephine. 

“—Killed her in the mindspace, and now here we are,” Josephine replied. I could tell it was her instantly. For one, she wasn’t restrained. “How about next time we choose a less crowded host, what do you say?” She glanced at Madi, walking around to the front of her and ignoring the beeping monitors that surrounded her. “And what is this?” 

“This is how we make hosts,” Russell explained. 

There was a chink of glass and I realised someone must be touching the container hanging from Madi’s arm that one of the tubes fed into. “Bone marrow?” Josephine asked.

Madi began to wake up, “Clarke, is that you?”

“No. It’s not,” Josephine replied. “She put up a good fight though, kid. Can’t win ‘em all.” 

Madi fought against her restraints, shaking the chair as she tried to break free. “We’re gonna kill you!” She screamed. “We’re gonna kill all of you and everything you love!”

Josephine moved and picked up a sedative, jamming it into Madi’s arm and watching as she fell silent before moving over to me. “Oh, you caught her? I guess this means you know she’s a host?”

“You knew?” Russell sounded surprised. 

“Don’t look at me like that, _of course_ I knew. I’ve been in Clarke’s head, remember? I found out just before they took me,” she sighed. “In another world, maybe I’d call dibs on her as my next body. Oh, well. How many doses do you think we can get out of the pair of them before they die?” Josephine paused, “You know what? Never mind. It’s time for my new drive. Being mortal _sucks._ ” 

Russell walked around the other side of the bed, and Josephine looked away. I tried not to move, not to give away the fact that I could kill him there and then, but something distracted me. Well, _someone._ Josephine looked at Madi and a tear appeared in her eye. She wiped it away and put on a smile, and that was when I realised. 

It wasn’t Josephine. It was Clarke.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You cannot deny the Big Dick Energy practically radiating from Alyssa during the execution interruption scene.


	9. For The Glory And Grace Of The Primes, Etc, Etc... Kindly Fuck Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You got a plan?"
> 
> "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

I was pretty sure Russell knew how long the paralytic would last. Which meant if he wasn’t going anywhere, I had to fake something _soon_ if I didn’t want to expose the fact that I’d been faking this entire time. Clarke lay flat on a bed for Russell to put another mind drive in and I lay on the table on the far side of the room. Slowly, without drawing attention to myself, I shifted the knife down my sleeve using small movements until it rested in my hand. 

Without a backup plan, I hurled it at Russell but it missed, hitting and shattering the glass screen behind him and spraying glass around the room. “Wow, paralysis really fucks with your aim,” I cursed, getting to my feet ready for a fight. 

Clarke rolled her eyes, “I’ve got this one. I picked up one or two of Clarke’s _skills_ in the mindspace.” She got up before he had a chance to object and raised her fists towards me. “Fighting being one, an awesome new language being the other.” She smiled before speaking in Trig, _“Make it realistic.”_

_“I know, I’m not an idiot,”_ I grinned. “Lord, I have been waiting to kick your ass, Josie.” 

She threw a punch and I ducked it, tackling her and bringing us both to the ground. I landed on top but she spun around, hauling me up just to punch me and throw me towards the computer. _“Did you really threaten to shoot yourself?”_

 _“The first four plans didn’t work!”_ I protested as her knee met my chest and I faked a cry of pain. _“You got a plan?”_

 _“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t,”_ she replied as I reached for one of the tranquilisers. She smacked it out of my hand and somehow we ended up on the floor again, giving her time to grab it instead and slam it into my leg. “Goodnight,” she whispered sweetly, hauling me up and onto the table where I started. “And she was talking about kicking _my_ ass, the nerve! Now, where were we?”

Her fake-smirk was the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness. 

~

I woke up slowly, but didn’t move. I kept my eyes shut even though I was desperate to see what was going on. 

“How many doses of the serum do you have?” Russell asked calmly. 

“Four,” Jackson replied. “Including the one your people took to the machine shop for Simone.” 

Russell sighed, “Six primes must be resurrected tonight. That’s one more dose and Alyssa. ”

“Madi wouldn’t survive that,” Abby cut in. “And if you want to… if you want to use Alyssa, then she has to be at full health. You can’t take bone marrow _and_ use her as a host at the same time. Not that close together, you can’t have both.”

“If it’s too hard for you to continue,” Russell interjected, “My healers will take your place. They’re already familiar with the process. It would be no trouble.” 

“No, I can do it,” Abby snapped. 

Russell replied, “Good. Remember, this is the deal that saved you from the pyre. I’d hate for that to change.” 

I heard the sound of footsteps as Clarke and Russell left, and the door shut behind them. Abby’s sobs echoed around and it was awful to witness as I opened my eyes and sat upright, leaning on Jackson for support. I made to stand up and tripped, grabbing him before I could fall and wrapping my arms around his neck, leaning close to his ear before lowering my voice and whispering— you never knew who might be listening— “Clarke is alive.”

“What?” he hissed back, “How?”

“Just trust me. She’s got Josephine down to a fine art, and she’s our ticket out of here.”

Raven plugged in the computer, “The flame is like a fortress, Sheidheda has it locked down completely and without the notebook I can’t get past him.”

“Tell Abby,” I whispered to Jackson. “Now.”

He nodded, going over to comfort her and wrapping his arms around her. I saw the change in her face, slipping from grief into determination, and the tears still fell but they were from relief instead of sadness. She pulled away before addressing me. “We’re going to need you in full health if we’re going to fight our way out of here,” she looked at me, “Which means we need another donor.”

Before anyone else could react, she had pulled up her sleeve and put the serum into her arm. 

“Abby, no!” Jackson cried, but Raven held him back. 

I sighed, “Abby, I admire you, but how the _fuck_ are we supposed to explain this to Russell?” 

“We’ll take the doses from me, and cross that bridge when we get to it. Raven, keep trying,” Abby decided. “Jackson, we can do this. I’ll be fine.” 

“None of this is fine,” Jackson protested.

“Look at me,” she reached for his arm. “I know this is hard, but we don’t have a choice.” 

His eyes misted over, “Said by every war criminal ever.”

“I shouldn’t have said that to you,” Abby sighed. “You’re a good man, Eric.” 

“Am I?” Jackson gestured to Madi, “This bone marrow lets them kill more innocent people so that our people can live.”

“Like Marcus said,” Abby reached up and cupped his face in her hand. “We turn the page. We do better today than we did yesterday.” 

He smiled weakly and nodded as the door swung open and everyone turned around. 

Clarke walked in, her expression firm, but it softened the moment she saw her mother. She made her way across the room slowly before grabbing Abby and pulling her in for a hug, both of them sobbing. After a moment she pulled away to look at Madi.

“It’s the flame,” Raven explained. 

“Sheidheda,” Clarke nodded as I wrapped my arms around her. “Are you okay? I didn’t overdo it?”

“Hell, I was worried about the same thing,” I laughed. 

We pulled apart and Clarke turned back to Raven, who continued. “I’m working the problem, but I need Becca’s book.”

“Okay,” Clarke nodded. “That can wait. We don’t have much time. I need you to come with me, we have to lower the shield. Bellamy and Octavia are waiting with the children of Gabriel.”

Raven shook her head, “Clarke, I can’t come with you. If she wakes up again, Sheidheda will kill you.” 

“Okay,” Clarke thought of a better idea. “I’ll use Ryker. The reactor’s beneath the machine shop anyway.” 

Raven shook her head again, “No, Ryker turned Echo in. He won’t help you.”

“No,” Clarke smiled, “But Josephine can be very persuasive. Until then, promise me you won’t take any more of Madi’s bone marrow.”

“We got that covered,” I replied. 

“Lyss? Are you—” She started, but Abby cut her off.

“I am,” she nodded.

Jackson sighed, “Yeah, that’s not a problem now. There’s _another_ nightblood in the family.” 

“Mom—” 

“Shh,” Abby soothed her, “I won’t let them take her. And I decided that we need Alyssa at full strength if any plan involving fighting is going to work.” 

I rolled my eyes, ducking my head so that she wouldn’t see the blush creeping up my cheeks. “You have way too much faith in me.” 

“I love you,” Clarke whispered to Abby. 

“I love you too, Clarke,” Abby smiled. “Now go save us all, again.”

She brushed a strand of Madi’s hair out of her face before she left, and I caught her arm before she could go. “We got this,” I whispered. “Be careful, don’t die.” 

Clarke looked down at my wrist, “You too. Oh, and I couldn’t say this earlier, but the tattoo is beautiful.” 

I sighed, “I think we might have to put ‘do better’ on hold if we want to win this war.” 

“Like you said, we got this,” she confirmed before walking out. 

~

Russell walked in, flanked by guards and followed by… _Murphy and Emori._ There was no point in pretending to be asleep so I folded my arms and shot them a glare. He hesitated, looking at me before I rolled my eyes and yawned. 

“Relax, I don’t bite unless provoked.”

“You weren’t provoked earlier when you threw a knife at my daughter,” he spat. 

I raised an eyebrow, “First of all, I was aiming at you. Second of all, murdering my best friend is a pretty fucking big provocation. The only reason I’m not doing anything right now is because you could kill anyone in this room if I did, and I’m not taking that chance.” 

Russell’s eyes trailed over to Madi, noticing that the container for the bone marrow was no longer attached to her arm. “You defied me,” he frowned at Abby, who gave him an unimpressed look in response. 

“I got you your doses. What difference does it make who they came from?” 

He sighed, “You’re right. It doesn’t. Get these people out of the lab, I have work to do.” Russell turned to me, “Cuff this one. If we need more doses, she’ll be the first to know. We don’t need any more female hosts.”

“Charming,” I laughed. “After all that, you’re not even going to chip me? Jeez, and I thought Murphy had no follow-through.”

“Seriously?” Murphy shot me a glare. 

“Remind me which side you’re on again?” I snapped back and he conceded. 

They cuffed me to the table which they put Madi on, and since she was restrained and still out cold from the last tranq it wasn’t a problem. I sat on the floor, leaning against the wall and looking up, trying to think of a plan. Clarke had a plan, but Clarke’s plan didn’t seem to be working _fast_ enough. Time was something we didn’t currently have.

“As much as I’d like to,” I announced, “We can’t just kill Russell. I expect he’d have some contingency plan in place that gets us all shot if he doesn’t check in with his guards. Plus, then they’d just make more of us nightbloods to bring him back. I’d stab him if I could, but it would be a waste of time.”

Raven’s lip curled up in disgust as she walked around the Reliquary. “They keep the bones of their hosts like trophies. They’re serial killers in royal robes and we’re helping them.” 

Abby walked over to her, “I helped them create a host for Marcus. It wasn’t worth it. You asked me that, on the ship. I thought it was. I couldn’t see past getting Marcus back. I couldn’t see that you were right. And then I got Clarke back… I was focusing on what I lost, and not what I have. I don’t want to do that any more. I’m sorry, for all of it.” Her voice cracked, “For the drugs, for disappointing you. Truly.”

“I’m sorry for how things have been between us,” Raven said slowly. “It wasn’t always fair how I judged you. You’re human, and sometimes being a human sucks.”

“I deserve to be judged for what I did to you. And I will _never_ hurt you that way again,” she promised. “I may not be your mother, but you are my family, Raven.” They hugged and the door opened.

Russell walked out, a smile on his face as he gestured to the people behind him. “May I present our fourth and fifth miracles of the day. Welcome back Daniel Prime and Kaylee Prime. Hallowed be their names.”

“Really Emori?” I raised an eyebrow, cutting off the ‘hallowed be their names’ reprisal. “You picked Kaylee? That bitch? Wow, the bar must be low for the rest of them.” She bristled but said nothing. 

Abby stepped in front of Murphy as he tried to leave, “I know how afraid you are,” she whispered. “But betraying your friends is not the answer.” 

“Believe it or not,” he replied quietly, “But this is good for you too.”

Russell interjected before Abby could say anything else, “I think you two should get changed for the ceremony. Guards will show you to your suites. Abby, can I get your help with something?”

“Wait,” Abby paused. “You’ve only resurrected five primes, but I gave you six doses.” 

“We have all the hosts we need,” he answered with a smile. 

_Me?_ Then it hit me. _Abby._ He was going to kill her. 

I pulled out my pick from my jacket and frustratedly began to work on the cuffs. I couldn’t throw anything from here, there wasn’t enough movement with the restraints.

Russell stepped towards her, “I’m sorry it had to be this way, Abby.” She took a step away from him, but he closed the distance. “But I took your daughter. As you said, you would never be able to get past that. I know I wouldn’t.”

“No! Leave her alone!” Raven protested as the guards surrounded Abby. 

“Raven, stop!” she warned, “They’ll kill you, don’t!” 

“Don’t do this!” Jackson lunged for one of the guards but got taken down quickly with a few well-placed punches from the nearest guard. 

The needle went into her neck, and I knew that was the one they used to wipe her mind. Raven collapsed, sobbing and Jackson screamed as every memory was taken from Abby’s mind. _Gone._ I dropped the pick, slumping against the wall. No use. _Too late._

_My fault._

_Should’ve been me._

_“Yu gonplei ste odon,”_ I whispered.

~

One moment, we were sitting there. The next, all the lights went out. _The shield._ We needed to get out of there. We needed to fight. They grabbed us and hauled us along, binding our hands and gagging us before bringing us with them out and into the chaos that was Sanctum. “ _Adjustment Protocol_ ” is what Russell had said. “Carnage” was a more accurate description. 

I spat the gag out, “What the hell did you do?”

“Weaponized red sun toxin,” the guard explained. 

I pulled out a knife slowly and began to cut away at the restraints between my wrists. They led us into the palace, into the main hall and shoved us to our knees. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the one they called “Gabriel”, and on the other side I could see Murphy and Emori— or should I say _Daniel and Kaylee Prime_ passing a gas mask between them, presumably the antitoxin for whatever the hell was happening outside. 

Clarke walked in, and to say Russell was happy to see Josephine was an understatement, but he was also increasingly worried about what she’d been doing. For a moment I thought he might be suspicious, but then I realised he was just nervous about what could’ve happened to her. “I was looking for Priya,” she explained. “But then I was blocked by a bunch of Gabriels’ lunatic children. She’s dead, by the way. What the hell is going on?”

Simone entered, and I held my breath as Clarke turned around to see her. Simone Lightbourne wearing Abby’s face. Her _mother’s_ face. “We’re leaving Sanctum,” Simone revealed. “Until it’s purified.”

Tears fell from Raven’s eyes and Jackson could barely look up as Simone walked in. Clarke looked at her, “Mom?” 

“Your mother murdered her mother,” Gabriel said solemnly. “Ironic, don’t you think?” He gave her an excuse to be mad at anyone that wasn’t obviously Russell, and as she slapped his face tears clouded her vision. 

“Don’t speak to me,” she snapped. “How could I have ever loved such a traitor.” 

Simone walked over and put a hand on Clarke’s shoulder as she sobbed lightly, “Oh sweetheart,” she turned her around to face her. “At least you have closure.”

“That’s enough. Now that we’re all accounted for, it’s time to go,” Russell announced. “Have you all taken the antitoxin?” 

“Go? Where?” Clarke asked worriedly. 

“To space, of course,” Simone answered, like it was the most obvious thing on the planet. “Sanctum is lost to us. For now, anyway.” 

“We have no pilot,” one of the other primes stepped forwards. “Priya’s dead. Maybe if you didn’t kill the Lees.”

Simone turned around with a chilling grin on her face as she walked over to Raven, “That won’t be a problem. We don’t need the Lees, do we Raven?”

Raven leant forwards and narrowed her eyes at Simone in disgust, “Go float yourself, murderer.”

Without saying another word, Simone walked towards one of the guards and pulled a gun to Madi’s head. “How about now? You have three seconds. One, two, th—”

“Okay,” Raven agreed. 

“Good choice,” Clarke smiled. 

“Excellent,” Russell smiled. “Guards, take the prisoners. We’re using the tunnel but be prepared for anything.” He looked at Gabriel, “Goodbye, old friend. Sanctum is yours. Although I suspect you won’t last very long.” 

Murphy and Emori walked in the opposite direction of the others, and as we were dragged out and along the passage, I caught a final glimpse of Murphy’s tearstained face. 

A plan formed in my mind. _They never gave us the antitoxin._

I don’t need a fake eclipse to act like a psycho.

I tripped, falling to the ground and taking one of the guards down with me. Clarke pulled me to my feet, “Keep up, or we’ll throw you to the wolves.”

“Now now, Josie,” Simone scolded. “We need her.” 

“No, we only need the _child_ if we want more serum, this one’s practically useless unless we wanted to put someone like Priya in her— but we’d need Priya’s _drive_ for that, which is out there,” Clarke reminded her, before lowering her voice and swapping to Trig. _“It’s a bloodbath out there. Bellamy’s going to need backup.”_

 _“I know,”_ I hissed back. _“I have a plan. Get the others as far away further into the tunnel as possible. Far enough that they can’t come back.”_

_“On it. Be careful, don’t die.”_

_“Right back at you,”_ I winked, falling behind again and tripping another guard.

The knife hidden between my wrists that had been slowly cutting away at my restraints was almost through, and although their patience with me was wavering, I was almost ready. 

I screamed and turned around, raising my bound wrists and bringing them up and under the nearest guard’s jaw. I lifted my knee and delivered a well-aimed blow to the groin, waiting until he doubled over to lift my hand around his throat and pull tight until the remains of the restraints stabbed, sending my knife into his neck and freeing my hands simultaneously. The second closest guard raised his gun but I turned around and elbowed him in the face, knocking him backwards and allowing me to grab his weapon instead. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you to use knives first? Guns draw too much attention,” I rolled my eyes, spinning around and slitting his throat. 

The large group stopped, and in the lead, Russell turned around. When he saw what had happened, he glared at me. “Shoot to kill.” 

“Can’t shoot what you can’t see,” I grinned, firing two bullets and taking out the two closest lights, flattening myself against the wall to get closer towards the entrance to the passage before taking out two more. The sound of gunshots echoing behind me didn’t stop me even as I reached the door and frantically tried to find my way in the dark. 

_A keypad._

_A fucking keypad._

I pulled out the MP3 and used it to shine a small amount of light on it. What would Monty do? _Monty_ would know how to bypass it. But sometimes, it’s more productive to do what _Jasper_ might do. I slammed the end of the rifle into the keypad until it short-circuited, popping the door open with a click. 

“We’re back bitches!” I sing-songed, leaning against the wall to catch my breath.

  
  



	10. The Blood of Sanctum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You guys have issues."
> 
> "Don't remind me. Now, let's get this show on the road."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty long because I couldn't figure out where I wanted to split it.

I pushed through the Sanctum doors with my gun first, hesitant only in case I ran into any guards that hadn’t joined the Primes for the ride up to the ship. Needless to say, Murphy, Emori and Gabriel almost had a collective heart attack when they saw me kick open the door to the great hall. 

“Oh, relax. You really think I’d miss a good party? Clearly you don’t know me as well as I thought,” a grin slid onto my face. “I have a dozen knives left and four more rounds left in this thing. Are we going to save our friends or not?” Their blank faces caused me to roll my eyes, the only blank face I’d been expecting was Gabriel’s considering he didn’t know me. “Now, do you have a plan or not?”

Gabriel nodded, “They’ve taken your friends for ‘adjusting’. They’re going to give them large amounts of the toxin in a drinkable form and then continuously feed them lies about the glory and grace of our gods until it’s all they believe.”

“Well, we better get them out of there. You two are Primes now, right? You can waltz right in,” I suggested. 

Emori agreed, “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’ll go for them first, since they’ll be in a group, keep our heads down and go for Jordan back at the palace.” 

“Good idea, I’ll follow in case we have any… complications. And we _will_ have complications, this place is a mess.”

Murphy began to walk towards the door, “Good plan. Let’s go.” 

Gabriel frowned, catching me as I went to follow him. “There’s a lot of tension in here, will that be a problem?”

“The tension has a name. It’s ‘that feeling when you sell out your potentially-dead friend for immortality then realise she’s alive and regret everything’. It’s a long story. Most of which is explained in the name.”

“Got it,” he replied slowly. “You guys have issues.”

“Don’t remind me,” I laughed. “Now let’s get this show on the road.”

~

Since they were now Primes, Murphy and Emori could do whatever they wanted without suspicion. I mean, they were _gods_ after all. I, on the other hand, had to be a tad more careful. When they walked straight through the carnage, immune from the toxin thanks to the antitoxin in the palace, no one questioned them. I had to take some of the antitoxin and keep to the shadows, hiding and creeping about in an attempt to not have to kill anyone. 

Murphy and Emori went into the tavern and hung back, keeping my head down as I climbed to the outside stairs to the top of the building for a better vantage point. The bloodbath had died down a little, and Russell’s “Adjustment Protocol” seemed to have worked because the people left alive seemed pretty pissed that their gods had left them, but pretty insistent that they were gods in the first place. 

When they came back out of the tavern, I jumped to the next building along, landing softly and wincing from the pain of an old injury as my knee almost buckled. The “Primes” led the way, with the others, who were bound and gagged, in tow. I walked further along and slid down the bannister of another staircase quickly and quietly as I followed them. 

Miller called out in warning before Bellamy caught him as he almost passed out, presumably from the toxin. I jogged from the cover of one building to another, moving alongside them and sticking to the less populated paths. 

“The earth people!” Someone shouted, “They’re the reason Russell left us! Kill them!” 

Yeah, that’s the kind of complication I’d been expecting.

I burst out of the cover, running headlong into someone before they had a chance to tackle Octavia and swinging my fist at someone else as they made a grab for Miller. “Not on my watch,” I grunted, throwing my entire body weight on top of a person who tried to climb up the steps and reach to make someone lose their footing. 

A shot rang out and I froze, trying to figure out where it came from. “Who the fuck gave them guns?” One of the protestors was holding a rifle, and I realised they must have grabbed it from one of the dead Sanctum guards. I quickened my pace up the stairs, throwing a knife in an attempt to knock back the raging crowd. It hit its mark in a non-lethal area (Bellamy would be proud), injuring enough to stop at least one of them from advancing as Gabriel opened the doors and we piled inside, shutting them at the last minute. 

“Jordan?” I asked, out of breath from running and fighting.

“Jordan,” Murphy confirmed. “Let’s go get him.”

He was inside the palace, still recovering from a stab wound that had apparently been caused by _Madi_ of all people. Then again, considering her newfound mostly one-sided dark partnership with Sheidheda, it wasn’t _that_ hard to believe. The small group of us went straight to the room and found the door was locked. Murphy pulled out a knife to unlock it but I nudged him out the way and kicked it open instead. He raised an eyebrow at me but I pretended I hadn’t noticed. 

Jordan was sitting on a bed with a blank look on his face, a bandage around his side and three horizontal cuts on the inside of his wrist. “He’s here,” Emori sighed with relief. 

“Great. That’s everyone.” Murphy nodded. 

“Mission accomplished,” Bellamy panted as he helped Murphy haul Miller up onto one of the beds. He walked over to Jordan straight afterwards, trying to get through to him. “Jordan, we’re here, you’re safe. Jordan?”

Gabriel frowned, “He must be in too deep to respond.”

I sighed, “Adjustment Protocol?” He nodded, helping to lay Miller flat.

Echo picked up the cup nearest to Jordan and glanced inside, “The blood of Sanctum is real blood?”

“Only partially,” Gabriel explained. “Simone predicted that the bloodletting would deepen the religious experience, but the psychoactive component is pure red sun toxin.”

“Useful stuff,” Bellamy remarked. 

Gabriel agreed, “When used properly, it can be, yeah.”

“HELP!” Someone screamed as they ran from the exit, but before I could intervene Octavia caught him and knocked him flat on the ground. 

“Looks like we found the adjuster,” Gabriel noted. 

Bellamy frowned, “I don’t understand. We told them the truth, why are they still doing this?” 

“If they accept the truth, their lives mean nothing,” Octavia said quietly. “It’s why I burnt the farm. Now help me tie him up.” I obliged and helped her pull the man to one side and bind his wrists together. 

Gabriel began to form a plan, “We can use that to help us save the people at the tavern. Cognitive dissonance. They’ll believe anything if it reinforces what they want to be true. Even that you’re still Daniel Lee.” He took a deep breath of the antitoxin before handing it to Murphy.

“Antitoxin again? Why?” He asked, taking it anyway.

“The blood of Sanctum is far more potent than what was in Russell’s bomb. You take me in as a prisoner, then once we’re inside the tavern we—”

Murphy cut him off, “No. No way am I drinking that stuff.” 

“They’re killing non-believers,” Gabriel protested. “My friend who you left behind is one of them.” 

“Look. I am sorry, but we stayed to save our friends and we did that,” he replied. “We’re all here. If I could help our people in space, I would. But this isn’t our fight.”

Gabriel sighed, “Okay,” and began to walk out the room. 

“Wait for me,” Octavia called before turning back to the rest of us, specifically her brother. “I can’t let these people die, Bell.”

“Side by side,” he agreed with her. “Like it was meant to be.”

I grinned at Echo, “Let’s make it a party.”

“Guess it’s time to do better,” she replied with a smile. 

“Kaylee Prime, at your service,” Emori volunteered.

“Emori—” Murphy tried to object but she interjected before he had the chance. 

“John, it’s okay. Someone needs to stay behind and look after Miller and Jordan.

Gabriel seemed to have other plans. “Excuse me, sorry, but Kaylee was against the Adjustment Protocol. It’s why they believed it when you took them all away. It has to be Daniel.”

“Fine,” Murphy agreed reluctantly. “But if I die, you’re bringing me back.”

“No, I’m not,” Gabriel reminded him. 

He rolled his eyes, taking a breath of the antitoxin. “At least lie to me.”

“Relax, Murphy,” I nudged him. “You think we’d let you die?”

“Weren’t you threatening to kill me twenty-four hours ago?” Murphy raised an eyebrow.

I laughed, “I was, and if I wanted to then I’d be damned if I let anyone else do it.” The look on his face was a picture and I tried to stay on task without giving in to even more laughter. “Relax, I’m kidding. We’ve got your back, always.”

Emori pulled him in for one last kiss and I handed Murphy a knife just in case, pulling out another to slice through the bandage that was still around my left forearm. They already know I’m a nightblood, and at this point, I’ve got nothing to hide so… I don’t see why not. Sure, I was embarrassed about it, but considering I’m standing in the middle of a palace on a habitable moon in the middle of a civil war with blood on my forehead and glass in my hair, what’s a few more scars to add to the mix? It’s not like any of this is normal. 

Well, the fact that this is normal for _us_ should probably be slightly concerning. 

“Being a god should be more fun than this,” Murphy muttered as he handed me the antitoxin. 

~

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Murphy shouted, attracting everyone’s attention as he walked towards the tavern with a knife against Gabriel’s throat. “Welcome to the main event of the evening. An adjustment for the demon Gabriel himself.” The tavern door opened and one of the adjusters led them inside, closing it behind them. 

Echo glanced over, “As soon as someone else knocks on that door, they’ll know we took the tavern.”

“That’s where we come in,” Bellamy announced. “Gabriel and Murphy control the inside, we make sure no one else gets in there.”

“If that happens, it’ll be thirty on four,” she stated matter-of-factly.

Octavia shrugged, smiling, “I like our chances.”

“Remember, one of them has a gun, but we don’t know which one it is, so stay alert,” I reminded them. 

After a few moments, one of the adjusters came outside and barred the exit, “We purify Sanctum through fire,” she shouted. “Get the fuel! Soak it down! Together we send the demon and his false prophet to hell!”

“So there’s a complication,” I sighed. “Time for some action.”

We climbed down from where we’d been watching from on top of one of the buildings, Bellamy in front. “Leave the torch and back away,” he warned. 

“Those are your people in there,” Octavia tried to reason with her, “Help us save them.”

“That’s what we’re doing,” the adjuster replied, raising her torch. “Their sacrifice will be a blessing to us all.”

Echo stepped in the way, “Can’t let you do that.” The lady swung the torch around and Echo ducked, hitting it out of her hand as all hell broke loose (for the second time). All of the adjusters descended on us and chaos ensued. 

I dodged a knife and kicked someone, ducking down to avoid being hit with another flaming torch. There were several torches left and I threw a knife to take down someone holding another. 

“I got them!” Octavia shouted, “You go for the torches and keep them away from the tavern!”

“On it!” I replied, grabbing a torch and shoving it into a water barrel to distinguish it. Another shot echoed through Sanctum but I couldn’t tell where it came from. The scream that followed it was even louder, but it wasn’t because they’d been shot. 

It was because the adjustor lady had set herself on fire.

Octavia tackled her, bringing them both to the ground as she thrashed about to throw her flaming jacket away from her. 

“I counted about a dozen runners, watch all sides of the tavern in case they come back,” Bellamy warned. 

I removed the barricade on the door and pushed it open to let Murphy and Gabriel out. “By the way, one of the runners is armed.”

Murphy was the first out, and he rolled his eyes at all of the unconscious bodies littering the floor, “Show offs.”

Gabriel followed after him, but his eyes were drawn to Octavia as he closed the distance between them and traced her back with his eyes. “When did you get that?” He asked in wonder, but when she only furrowed her brows in confusion as a response, he examined her back in more detail. “Do you mind?”

She shook her head, “What is it?”

Her back was covered in hundreds of tiny rune-like symbols and Gabriel brushed her hair out of the way to look at it more closely. 

“Have you seen that before?” Bellamy asked him. 

“The tattoo? No. But I’ve been studying it for a hundred and fifty years. We call it the anomaly stone, you must have gotten it on the other side. Hey,” he turned Octavia around, talking softly, “Still think you were gone for only a few seconds?”

“It’s beautiful,” Echo whispered, “But what does it mean?”

Octavia paused, “It means I have to go back.”

A flicker of movement behind the tavern caught my eye, and I barely had time to tackle Murphy to the ground as the shooter shouted, “BEWARE THE FALSE PROPHET!” and fired two shots. I raised my own gun and shot him down before rolling over from on top of Murphy and lying breathless on the ground next to him. 

“Thanks,” he panted.

“I told you,” I replied. “I got your back. Always. Even if you are an ass.”

~

As the sun began to rise, the transport ship landed and the others came down. I grinned, running towards them and crashing into Clarke and Madi, refusing to let go. They gripped me quietly and I breathed a sigh of relief to be seeing them again. Especially considering Madi was considerably less Sheidheda-like. 

“I’m not the Commander anymore,” she whispered. 

“You don’t need the flame to be Commander,” I replied. “Anyway, at least now you can be a kid.”

Clarke smiled at me, “Jackson said something interesting earlier, something along the lines of ‘What is it with you and Alyssa and putting guns against your heads?’ Lyss, what did you do?”

“I made a distraction without killing anyone!” I protested, “You should be proud!”

She rolled her eyes, “Do I even want to know the exact circumstances?”

“If it’s any consolation, we were on Plan E at that point.” 

I wrapped Raven in a hug and she grinned, “Impressive escape, glad to see every one of our lot down here are okay.”

“Thanks for saving Madi,” I whispered. “I knew you could get Sheidheda out in the end.”

“About that… there’s something concerning about Sheidheda that we’re going to need to talk about later,” she warned. 

“Gotcha,” I nodded, turning to Jackson, “You’ll be pleased to hear that there are no major injuries you need to patch up this time around.”

He frowned, wiping a piece of hair out of my face, “Apart from the one on your forehead, you’ll need stitches for that.”

I paused, “Wait, there’s a cut on my forehead?”

Before he could finish, Miller hurled himself at him from the side and hugged him half to death, pulling away only to kiss him passionately. 

I waited until Bellamy and Clarke had finished with their reunion, and she had moved to talk to Raven and Emori before approaching him. “Hey,” I gave him a half-smile.

“Hey,” he replied, doing the same. 

“So you’re going to the anomaly, huh? Sounds like a party… but Clarke and Madi need me here, so I guess I’ll hang back,” I told him. “You better not do anything stupid.”

Bellamy laughed, “Same goes for you. We made a deal, nothing majorly stupid and dangerous unless I’m coming too.”

“Got it,” I nodded with a smile, “I’ll push back my calendar until you get back.”

He looked at me and rolled his eyes, picking a piece of glass out of my hair. “I have to ask, _how_ do you manage to do that so often?” 

“I smashed a frosted glass window in the lab and then proceeded to start a fight with Clarke pretending to be Josephine in order to keep Russell convinced,” I shrugged. “There was glass on the floor. And the counter. And the table. And now me, evidently.”

“Every damn time,” he whispered in disbelief. “Every damn time.”

“What can I say?” I pulled a face, “No, I’m serious. I literally do not know how to respond to that. It’s not exactly like I can promise to keep out of trouble, I mean you’ve _met_ me, right?”

He laughed, shaking his head and grinning before pulling me into a hug. “I heard about Plan E from Echo, by the way. It was a terrible plan.”

“My first comment on Plan E was ‘Bellamy will hate this’... and then I did it anyway.” 

“It didn’t work,” he replied, resting his head on top of mine. 

“It could’ve?” I suggested weakly. 

Bellamy sighed, “That’s a good example of things you should definitely _not_ do while I’m gone.” 

“Got it. But you have to admit, it _was_ a pretty good plan. And it was badass as all hell.”

“It was a terrible plan.”

“I stand by it! It was a distraction and no one died, you should be thanking me. I could've killed people, but I took the non-lethal route, and you know that's my least favourite kind of force.”

He rolled his eyes, "What is your favourite kind of force? Lethal?"

"No, _gravity._ Lethal's my second favourite, obviously."

Bellamy laughed, “So uh… I’ll—”

I cut him off, “No goodbyes, remember? Just…” I grinned, doing cringey finger guns “Catch you later.” 

He shook his head slowly, grinning and laughing. “Catch you later,” he added the finger guns as an afterthought.

~

I leant against Clarke as we sat at the top of the hill. It was the early afternoon, but Madi was exhausted and already in bed. Clarke had said she has a surprise in store, and that she’d show me tomorrow, but I was too tired to show how excited I really was. I sighed, looking out at Sanctum. “What now?”

“We rebuild, we build our own compound, and then…” she trailed off.

“And then?” I asked.

Clarke smiled at me, running her finger over the tattoo on my wrist, “Then we do better.” 


End file.
